The Seven Sins and Virtues
by ForbiddenKHfan216
Summary: One shot stories about seven different Kingdom Hearts characters; these can be alternating looks at their personalities and what could have happened if they had been pushed too far. There are seven sinners of the Kingdom Hearts series and their deeds will be revealed... and for each sin, there is a heavenly counterpart. Alternate universe.
1. Chapter 1: Greed - I Love You

Seven Deadly

**Greed: I Love You**

He licked his fingers, smiling as the blood trickles down his soaked palm. The tears follow alongside the steaming crimson drops, tickling all the way down as he cradles that dear little face in his hands. He can feel the trembling of the little girl in the palm of his hand, feel all the way down into her heart and soul.

Riku smiles, feeling the sheer absolute terror in Kairi's heart.

He bends down to her, gently gathering her into his arms and stopping her from running away from him. The trembling becomes worse as the Princess is pulled into his lap, pressed tightly into his body. But Riku does not mind it, for he was happy to have her with him, just happy to keep her there.

He simply inhales the surprisingly sweet scent of her fear, greedily nuzzling his face into her throat. The hard ba-dump, ba-dump of her jugular vein feels so very very _very_ good against his lips, despite how much she was shaking. For a moment, Riku wants to comfort Kairi, to tell her that she wouldn't be harmed, as long as she stayed here with him.

His hand grip the back of her dress as he smiles at her, giving her that much comfort. The tears are gently soothed away from his toy's eyes as Riku stands up slowly, though he continues to keep Kairi pressed against him.

She is warm against his cold skin, and he is enjoying the contrast of her and him. He was the Darkness that engulfed her Light; he was the Beast that destroyed her Beauty; he was the Silence that swallowed her Music. He could taste her fear, he could taste the silent acceptance that was coursing through her veins.

Slowly, Riku allows his prize to pull away from him, to crane her head up to look up at him. Her violet-blue eyes are the same as they had always been, and they look into his own golden eyes, and he smiles at the sight of them. They are beautiful, just as beautiful as they had always been.

Her lips shake as she speaks. "R-Riku... if... you let me go... I won't tell anyone... I promise..." He feels himself smiling as he gently places her back onto the bed, now climbing onto her instead of holding her to him. Her body stiffens and she starts shaking that much more, obviously knowing what was going to come next.

Riku slowly shakes his head no and smiles at his prize.

"You're not going anywhere. No one is going to save you," With each word that comes out of his mouth, Kairi flinches like she had been slapped. The tears begin to flow that much harder and she starts to scream, begging for someone to come help her. Riku presses on, grabbing his dear friend's throat and pinning her to the sheets. "No one knows you two are here. No one will ever guess... and no one will ever come."

Her wrists are so small in his hands that he only really needed one to to pin her hands above her head, to prevent her from trying to scratch his face. The girl screams and wiggles violently beneath him, but he still manages to slap his palm between her breasts, right on her heart.

Riku's words are soft and harsh, betraying the greedy way he had kept them locked up. They were his, only his, and no one else could have them. "Sleep, Kairi. If you're good, we can play with Sora together." He promises sincerely, wanting nothing more than his two friends to be together with him. It would be beautiful, them all being together at the same time. But now was not the time for that, first he had to calm them both, he had to get them to understand that they were his forever, and that nothing would ever take them away. They would love him then, they would love him forever and they would be together forever, just like they had promised.

Pressed against his hand, the darkness of his heart fills the little girl, destroying the light within her long enough to cast her into sleep.

As the darkness fills the Princess's heart, her beautiful eyes close and she slackens, falling asleep instantly. The boy watches her for a little while as she sleeps before tucking the blanket back under her chin, smoothing the lacey borders of the cloth gently. She wouldn't wake up. They never did, not until Riku forced them awake.

He turns to the other bed and smiles at the boy in it, knowing that soon Sora would be waking up to play.

That's the way it was supposed to be. They would play with him forever because they were his and no one else would ever take them away. Their love was his alone and he would never, not in a million years or however long they lived here with him in this dark castle, get enough of it.

"Time to wake up, Sora."


	2. Chapter 2: Sloth - Why Bother?

Seven Deadly

**Sloth: Why Bother?**

Roxas yawned sleepily, his dark blue eyes blinking as he stared up into the sunshine. He was not going to move from this spot, no matter what anyone ever said to him. It was too peaceful and he was too lazy to even bother.

From his perch on top of the Twilight Town Clock Tower, Roxas could see everything and anything that was happening in the town below him. He had even locked the tower door to make sure no one else could come in and disturb him.

"Sure is peaceful..." The blond murmured softly to himself as he basked in the warm glow of the setting sun. The soft heat burrows into his very bones, making him that much more lazy and relaxed. Roxas kept his gaze firmly on the ground below, smiling as the tiny dots ran around below in the train station.

It was the end of a busy day, at least for most people, and Roxas was enjoying watching those people go home and get back to their families. The doors to the station kept opening and closng, the sign that more and more people were getting that much closer to getting home. It must have been nice to have a home.

Roxas yawned again as he stretched out on the ledge, putting his head firmly on the wadded up jacket he had stuck under him a few hours ago as a makeshift pillow. He felt so sleepy, just so sleepy, and there was nothing more for him to do today except to take a nice long nap.

The setting sun seemed to have other plans, as it began to shine that much brighter in his eyes.

So Roxas simply turns around and buries his face in his hands, hiding from the sun lazily. He couldn't sleep with it in his eyes.

As he dozed off, a sharp pounding on the locked door of the Clock Tower began.

"Hello?!" A frightened voice demanded as the door rattled violently in its frame. "Hello, is anyone there?" The boy's voice asked as Roxas continued to sleep on the other side. The boy's eyes filled with tears as he slammed all of his weight against the stubborn wood, a useless attempt to force it open. The doorknob shook in his hand as he tried it one more time. "Hello? My name is Pence!" Pence said in that same frightened high-pitched voice, the voice of a child awakening from a nightmare.

"My name's Pence, sir... And... there's... I know it sounds crazy... but there's monsters down here, I'm the only one who made it up here... Please..." The boy said in a loud mock whisper before pounding the door one more time with his clenched fist. "Please! I know you can hear me!" He shouted angrily, making Roxas open an eye.

Roxas listened silently as Pence burst into tears again and cried. "My friends... my friends... they're... they made sure I could come up here..." The boy whimpered softly, choking on his own snot as he sobbed. "Olette... Hayner... we were... here together... and... they didn't make it... Please... you have to open the door... they're coming..."

Roxas didn't move, except to put his hand to his mouth as he yawned. Too noisy... The door slammed in its frame again, shaking as Pence began trying to break the whole thing down.

It was simply too noisy...

Roxas held his hand out to the door and muttered softly to himself. "It's too noisy..." At the sound of his words, the pounding stopped and Pence began to beg to be let in again, his voice rising a few octaves as soon as he realized there was actually someone on the other side of the door. "It's too noisy... I can't sleep... Aeroga."

A loud scream erupted from the other side of the door as the wind picked up around Pence, pinning his body to the opposite wall. The boy, trapped by the invisible wind, screamed hysterically in order to be let go. As Roxas curled back up onto his makeshift bed, the sound of crunching bones against stone slowly lulled him back to sleep.

He didn't even bat an eye when the monsters came for Pence, nor when Pence screamed for him to help. He simply slept, completely unaware of the world around him as the Heartless tore the boy he refused to help to shreds.


	3. Chapter 3: Wrath - Your Fault

Seven Deadly

**Wrath: Your Fault**

It was always for him.

_**More, give me more, give me more!**_

It was always for him.

I hear the cries of an old friend, begging for me not to cut him down, to not kill him and to spare him. The hilt of my blade seems to shiver in my hand, asking me whether or not it'd be allowed to strike.

My lips curve into a smile as I look down at the dark-cloaked figure at my feet, trying not to enjoy the feeling of sheer rage that was coursing through my body. It is warm, warm like the sun that used to be alive in this black sky that was me. I am the night sky, he is the sun. I thrust the blade into the ground, allowing the man a moment to scramble away from me, allowing him a moment to crawl away from me like the worm that he was.

_**More, give me more, Xion, give me more!**_

Oh, I will. And I'll enjoy it, I'll enjoy killing them all for you, my dear. His voice echoes in my head, pleading for me to give more of my wrath, more of my hate and rage. My sweet friend, how greedy you are! Even if they don't deserve to live, you should be more patient, you'll get it soon enough.

The man whimpers softly as he manages to crawl a few more inches away from my boots. It can't be easy with his broken arms and legs, but he manages to do it anyway. I smile at him, feeling the blood inside of me boil and churn sickeningly as I watch him move. Axel. Oh, sweet, naive Axel.

"This is your fault." I tell him, watching with satisfaction as he looks up and stares at me in confusion. There is confusion in that man's dark blue eyes and he keeps looking at me as if he doesn't know what he did.

**_OF COURSE HE DOES. Kill him, Kill him,killhimforme, Xion, moremoremore! Theyallhaveto_pay_!_**

"Please be quiet; I can't hear him." I tell my friend quietly, watching as the man's head snaps up and his eyes narrow in suspicion. The voice buzzes impatiently in my ears, fueling the boiling blood in my veins.

He knows what he did. He knows exactly what he has done, how could he not? I shiver, feeling the warmth from the blood splattered on my clothes. The blade is just that much heavier in my hand, that much more real. The rage gathers up in my body, demanding release. He knows what he did. He knows why I am here, he knows why I will get my revenge.

_**Kill him for me! Kill him, Xion, killkillkillhimforme!**_

I smile.

"You know what you did," I tell the prone figure at my feet, drawing the blade up past my head. I can see the fear in his eyes even as it swings down into his lovely white throat. The crimson splatters against my face, making me howl. "And you know why I'm doing this!"

_Slash._

"This is all _**your fault**_!"


	4. Chapter 4: Lust - Stay With Me

**Hi there, a note from the Authoress: Kingdom Hearts is not mine first off. **

**If you're a little squeamish, don't read the next couple of stories. I went all out for them. That being said, this one is my favorite of the bunch. Don't ask why.**

* * *

Seven Deadly

Lust: Stay With Me

Naminé wrapped her fingers into the boy's hair, inhaling the scent that emerged from his still body deeply. The smell of it was sweet, even soothing, despite how the sweat dripped down his body.

"Sora..." The memory witch whispered softly to the sleeping boy, running her pale fingers against his bronzed skin. As if feeling her touch somewhere in his dreams, Sora shivered violently. But the movement simply made the girl smile that much more, and she pressed her lips against his in thanks.

Her breath hitched in her throat as Sora moaned softly, most likely simply to try to get some more air. But to her, the sound was sweey and delicious, an impossible delicacy in a Castle that no longer held even the smallest bit of sound. She pressed her ear close to his mouth, felt the puff of warm wind from his lips, to hear the sound again.

"Sora..." She repeated insistently, longing to get a response from her sleeping Prince. But Sora does not say a word, only moans again, attempting to awaken from his controlled sleep. The moment he stirs, the moment his eyes open to reveal their beautiful cerulean depths, Naminé reached out to touch them.

His eyelashes were soft against her skin, and his sweet, gentle confusion was enough to make her nonexistent heart swell with love.

Sora licked his lips weakly, blinked up at the girl in white at his side, and coughed. "Who... who're you...?" He asked as she gently lifted his head up, up onto a second pillow so that he could look at her properly. She just smiled at him and shook her head, touching her finger to his lips.

"You have to rest, Sora, you're not well," She said softly, tracing the outline of his mouth with that cold, cold finger. He shivered. "And don't you remember? I'm Naminé." At the sound of the name, Sora only blinked, that much more confused.

"Nam... iné?" He repeated, allowing the strange girl to pull a blanket up to his chin, to tuck it in neatly. The young hero had no idea where he was or who she was, but the familiar way that she said his name meant that she knew him. If only he could remember... if only he could remember her...

The girl in white nodded, smiling in bliss as her love said her name. She loved the sound, she could hear him say it all day, every day, forever. "Naminé," She said again as she moved onto him, ignoring his startled cry and the immediate attempt to shove her off. "I'm your wife." the girl said softly as she places her lips onto his.

* * *

He couldn't remember getting married. He wasn't even sure what marriage was. But the girl sleeping in his arms said that they were married, that they were bound together forever. Sora wasn't sure what she meant by 'forever' but he knew that he couldn't get up.

And Naminé was a very good kisser.

He stroked her long blond hair gently, not wanting to wake her up or to make her feel like she had to leave. He didn't want her to leave. He'd never had someone sleep with him, after all, much less a _girl_ but something about it made him not want to let her out of his sight. Sora just wished he could remember how he knew that and why this girl, his _wife_, made him so uncomfortable. Why she felt like a stranger to him.

For some reason, when he thought of her, a very different girl kept coming to mind. A girl that looked the same, but she had a different hairstyle, a different pair of violet-blue eyes, a different color to her skin. Sora wondered if Naminé had dyed her hair once. Maybe that explained the deep red of the girl in his fragmented memories.

Maybe he could get her to dye her hair again into that beautiful color.

Sora started to get up, gently maneuvering the sleeping girl onto a pillow instead of his chest. She didn't stir, only moaned softly and cuddled deep into the pillow as if he was still sleeping there. The sight made him smile, made him think that she was very cute.

"... Who... just who am I?" He suddenly said out loud, realizing that he had absolutely no idea. All he really knew was what Naminé had told him. Everything else was completely blank, except for that messed up memory of her. He had no memory of getting married. He had no memory of their honeymoon, an event that Naminé had told him with a shy, blushing smile that had brought a welcome rosy color to her pale, pale cheeks.

He only knew what she had told him.

Sora turned to the sleeping girl, reached out with a shaking hand, and touched her brow. Her skin was still a little cold in places, the places he hadn't touched when they were curled up into each other. He blushed heavily, embarrassed. Those were the places he hadn't touched while they kissed.

And they were still so cold, as if even the heat in her skin couldn't touch them.

He stroked her forehead, thinking hard about what he had discovered. Only he could warm her, his wife was a good kisser, she had pale, pale skin that looked absolutely lovely when she blushed, she smiled shyly, and her name was Naminé. But he didn't know anything else. She was very gentle with him, because of the accident.

Sora paused. The accident. Something else he couldn't remember. He leaned back in her, their bed and thought about it. Naminé had told him that someone evil, somehow he knew what that was, had broken into their home and tormented her. Enraged, he had gone after this... Marluxia and killed him. In the process, he had saved their marriage and now they were free. But that Marluxia guy had stolen all of his memories, and his dear Naminé (she had been insistent that he could call her that) was trying to bring them all back.

And for some reason, his wife scared him.

The boy slowly pulled his hand away from her head, looking into his palm as if it could tell him all the answers to his messed up memories.

Instead, he simply fell back onto his side, closing his eyes and going back to sleep with his dear Naminé.

* * *

Years passed for them in the Castle, years in which his wife barely changed. Even as Sora grew and slowly became a man, Naminé stayed the same little girl he had rescued long before. She had told him once that this was normal for girls, and that it wouldn't change until she became whole. He hadn't known what that meant, but the subject upset her so he stopped asking. Time just seemed to stop for them.

But every once in a while, she would smile and hold out a picture of a cake with one more candle on top of it. She would ask the same question, and each time they would celebrate.

"You're mine. Will you stay with me forever?"

"Of course I will, dear."

"I love you. I love you so much."

"... I love you too, dear Naminé."

He never had any idea about the spells she was using to keep him captive. He never knew about the increasing want inside of her body, raging through her as she demanded more and more of her sleeping Prince. They slept together, stayed together in the twisting, wandering halls of the abandoned Castle. Sora never left her side, nor did Naminé leave his. She wanted more, she wanted him, and no one in the world would take her love away.

No matter how many times she made him hers, no matter how many times she demanded he lose all of his memories to begin again, Sora remained the prisoner of the girl in his dreams. So she erased him, fixed him, took him, stole him away, until there was nothing left except what she wanted.

She became a monster in order to keep him forever.


	5. Chapter 5: Pride - Friends Come First

**Alright, I'll make someone an offer. If they like one of the story ideas I have presented in this collection of short stories and would like to see a full length story of it or if they want to see the virtues associated with each of the sins and let these characters redeem themselves, just PM me and I'll get back to ya. Toodles!**

* * *

Seven Deadly

Pride: Friends Come First

I haven't exactly been honest with you.

Well, of course, you have no idea what I'm talking about, huh? You need to get what I'm sayin' memorized, lil buddy, or else you're gonna be wandering 'round here like some kinda zombie. Now, let's see where we'll begin... Ah, yes!

The scream that erupted from the boy's mouth made me grin, made me laugh as I ripped open his arm for the third, maybe fourth time with my chakram. He howled in utter agony, something that made the heart inside of me twist and contort in sheer pleasure. That's what he deserved, after all, for taking away my precious people.

So... Sora... You gonna be a good boy now?

He nods weakly to my question, his blue eyes filling with tears as I gently lift his head up and smile at him. He's such a good boy, aren't you, Sora? He nods again, whimpering as I wrap the black cloth back around his mouth. I only ever do that when I'm being serious, huh, Sora?

He nods again, aren't you just cute!

Well, uh, I guess I should start up again, huh? ... No, don't give me that look, Sora, you know for a fact that I'm the best one for the job. The others, well, they'd just kill you. At least with me you'll have a chance to live, right? Maybe even a twenty five percent chance; I can promise you that the others would just kill you right off. But hey, I like you. I like you a lot, Sora, it's just that I need something inside of you...

Don't give me that look, Sora, you know that this is going to be painless. Well, as painless as I can make it. And I promise you; I'm the best. I just need to get my pals out of you and then you can go home, rest up, heck, we can all catch the game with you! The Zanarkand Abes are playing, right?

Don't worry... Don't cry anymore. There you go, I wiped the tear off for you. Why are you shaking so much? I'm the best person for this kind of work. You won't feel a damn thing. … Well, maybe just a bit. Don't worry, the shock will knock you out. I'm just that good.

I pick up my chakrams again, lifting them up past my head as Sora looks up at me and whimpers, begging through the gag to be let go. I can see Roxas in there, waitin' for me. Who's Roxas? Well, don't you worry about that, Sora. Don't worry at all, in fact. It'll be over soon; I'm just that good.

"Axel, no, _please_-!"


	6. Chapter 6: Envy - Wishing

Seven Deadly

Envy: Wishing

The classroom around me is so loud, she could barely hear herself think. The kids were all talking about their summer vacation plans, despite the fact that summer was still three days away. And they lived on a tropical island. No matter how many times they claimed that they weren't going to go to the beach, the fact of the matter was that every single one of them was going to find themselves at the beach with a bucket and a little shovel at one point or another.

Kairi scribbled on her piece of paper, watching the clock as she waited for her teacher to come back.

For some reason, she had always been waiting. The call of the voices around her started to get louder, driving themselves into her head like nails.

"Oh, well, we're going to go to a theme park!"

"We're going to the festival!"

"My mom and I are going to go shopping right after school ends!"

All the voices were making her head hurt. Kairi rubs at her temples as her classmates chattered eagerly. For some reason, she hated them all. She pictured herself going on the activities they were describing, going to the theme park, going to a festival, going shopping. In her daydreams, she was accompanied by Selphie, her younger friend.

"Isn't... there... something missing?" Kairi whispered to herself as her pencil moved on her paper. Her eyes closed in concentration and she tried to remember what exactly she had forgotten. It didn't feel like an object; it felt like a person.

The image of a smile, sweet and kind, came to mind but she quickly lost it. She knew the person who the smile belonged to was who she was missing, but she couldn't remember his face. It was lost already, gone back to the deep part of her brain that made up her memories.

That boy... who was he...?

A girl sitting near her suddenly squealed and clapped her hands together. "I'm going on a date!" She said happily, earning herself a startled look from most of the guys in the room and a cheer from the girls. The girl blushed deeply but continued to smile in that cheerful way, obviously pleased at the attention and her date.

Kairi was one of the ones who didn't cheer. She felt something else, a strange longing. She suddenly felt the spray of sea mist on her flushed cheeks, the warmth of two hands intertwined with hers. It was only an illusion, but she knew those two hands.

One, powerful with a deep inner strength, belonged to her best friend Riku. He was lost, unable to return home. The last she had seen of her friend was his being shut behind a door, the entrance to Kingdom Hearts, the Heart of all Worlds. He had said something to...

The girl blinked hard, suddenly remembering. Riku had said something to someone, something that she hadn't been quite able to hear because she had just gotten there. She hadn't even been able to say good bye to him, he had disappeared behind the door too quickly for her to say anything. But Riku hadn't been saying whatever it was to her.

She thought that he had said to take care of Kairi. Why would he ask her to take care of herself? Unless... he hadn't spoken the words to her.

She concentrated on the other hand, the warm one and happy one. Kairi could tell it was a happy hand, because that person was always laughing. But she couldn't remember the face. She could remember Riku's face, but not this boy's. Tears silently trickled down the girl's face as the other students chattered on and on about their vacation plans.

Kairi wished she could have those plans, too. Why did they get to have them and not her? All she could do was wait... wait and watch... for the boy that she had left behind. She couldn't remember his face, she could only long for the soft warmth that came from his hand and try to remember. Kairi couldn't see it, she could never see it... but they could... they could always see those people... even though she couldn't...

"_Who... who are you...?"_

She hated them all for having those plans.


	7. Chapter 7: Gluttony - Yummy

Seven Deadly

Gluttony: Yummy

He shoved another handful of food into his mouth, barely bothering to chew as he gulped it down. Sora grinned at his companions as they ate as well, wondering if they had noticed.

Of course they had noticed, but they were much too polite to say anything. Sora chuckled softly and grabbed his goblet, chugging down the sweet fruit juice inside of it eagerly. He'd always love the smell of the paopu fruit and now he got to drink its juice every day, how lucky!

A low, choking noise emerged from one of the corners of the dining room, urgent and insistent. Sora blinked a few times before lowering his cup, turning to see what was making the noise. Riku stared up at him from his place in the corner, his golden eyes begging him for release.

Sora looked at his friend sadly and cut another piece of meat from the haunch of leg on the table. He could barely look at the poor thing as he ate the savory meat. Riku had become a monster, so the Keyblade Master had had no choice but to tie him up until he released the Darkness within him. The King had said that it could take years for him to destroy the Darkness inside Riku, if the once apprentice of Maleficent could even do it.

It was sad.

It was so sad seeing his friend become this monster...

The Keyblade Master slurped another bit of paopu juice from his cup before holding it up to the air, asking for one of his friends to come and refill it. As he chewed thoughtfully on the meat on his fork, Aladdin crawled forward and took the cup, filling it again with the yellow juice.

"Thank you, Al," Sora told him sincerely before picking up a plate and beginning to fill it for his friend. It was the least he could do since Al and the others were being so kind to him; they had even come with him to Destiny Islands, just to be here for him in his time of need. But the once street thief turned pale underneath his dark tan and shook his head silently.

Sora frowned but continued to fill the plate with food. Was there something wrong with him? Why wasn't he hungry? Aladdin didn't have to eat only bread anymore, so why was he refusing to eat? "Are you sure?" The Keyblade Master asked again, confused. Aladdin shook his head again and covered his mouth.

For a moment, it looked like he was going to be sick.

"Al?"

Aladdin shook his head again and slowly retreated, clutching at his arm tightly. Sora watched as he crawled across the room, barely even able to stand on his own let alone walk. The boy takes another sip from his cup. It was sad, really. He had been so sorry when he had cut off Aladdin's legs. But he had needed to, for his own good.

It was the only way to get the Darkness out of him, after all.

Sora took another bite and turned back to look at his best friend. "You hungry, Riku?" He asked, as he usually did once a meal. Beneath the scarf tied around his mouth, Riku made a gagging noise and shook his head hard. Sora frowned and picked up one of the other cups around the table and peeked inside.

"Well, if you're sure..." Sora carefully poured out the red liquid into a bowl and passed it to Donald. The magician immediately ripped out of his friend's hands and slurped it up, eagerly swallowing the congealing red fluid. Goofy's eyes suddenly snapped up to look at the bowl and a vicious growl filled the dog's throat before Sora could stop him. He quickly filled another bowl with the cup's contents and gave it to him.

Goofy stopped growling and lapped up the blood with his tongue, barely even setting the bowl down on the table so he could drink. Riku choked in the corner, closing his eyes and rocking himself again. Sora sighed sadly as he began again, frowning sadly. He could do nothing for his friend... just as he could have done nothing for Kairi and the King...

He takes another piece of meat and tears it apart in his teeth. The meat, cooked exactly to his specifications by Kairi, Belle, and some of the other Princesses of Heart, was absolutely delicious. Full of yummy herbs and spices and the sweet tang of the paopu it had simmered in. It was only a little raw; as he ate, some of the hot blood dribble down his chin. His friends seemed to like it like that for some reason, though Sora didn't.

But he really was too hungry to care.

_Crunch._

Sora pauses, suddenly feeling something hard in his mouth. His teeth grinded hard against the object he had almost swallowed. Carefully, he sticks his fingers into his mouth and yank the object out. He inspected it for a moment before turning to Donald and holding it out.

"Tell Belle to clean it better, or else I'll want her for dinner next." Sora tells his magician before putting the little necklace down beside his plate. He sighed and shook his head. Just how hard was it to clean some meat?

But he shrugged and stuffed another piece of meat into his mouth. As he ate, Sora's fingers played with the string of the necklace. Nothing more than a small white pendant on a black string, the necklace was simple but very pretty to his eyes. He wiped the blood of it and hooked it around his neck, settling it beside his bloodsplattered crown pendant.

"This is almost as bad as when I almost choked on one of King Mickey's zippers." He complained to Riku but he still smiled at him, wanting him to be a part of the meal even if he wasn't eating. Riku's eyes narrowed viciously, though they were filling with tears.

Sora pulled another bit of meat from the haunch of leg and smiled. Whatever anyone could say... Kairi sure did know how to make a meal.

She tasted delicious.


	8. Chapter 8: Humility - I'm Sorry

**Alright, alright. Just in case, I want everyone to know that all the sins were taken by using each character's personality and amping it up. For example, Sora was gluttony simply because it was easy to make Sora become a monster out of trying to be a good person to his friends. The food just seemed appropriate for him.**

**Now, for each sin, there is a heavenly attribute. It's time for their redemption!**

* * *

Seven Heavenly

Humility: I'm Sorry

I...

Sora's hand immediately grab at my shoulder, forcing me up. My knees buckle under my weight, as if I had suddenly become way too heavy for them to support. I hear him ask if I was alright.

I laugh softly, shaking my head. If I was alright, would I be on the floor like this? He smiles a little, like it was even funny. Instead of answering, he drops me carefully to the floor. It hurts... but... you know that... don't you...

Sora... I...

Don't talk? I can talk if I want to, dammit... Ah! Sora, I... it's going to be... alright... I... I'm sorry...

"Axel, are you okay?"

No, I'm not 'okay'... I touch my side and when I pull my fingers away, I could see spots of blood on them. Heh... I guess... that Nobody did a lot more damage than I thought... I guess... I don't... get to see you... again...

Sora... I... I'm sorry... All I wanted... was to see... him again... Roxas... I'm sorry... I smile at Sora as he takes my hand. I just wanted to see my friend again... but I guess that won't be happening... it's alright though. At least I got to save you, huh, Sora?

"Axel!"

I'm sorry... I'm... Did... I... help... even a little...?

I focus hard on the boy in front of me, trying to see him more clearly. For a moment, I see Roxas. Sora... Roxas... is my best friend... thank you for... letting me see him again...

"You... you're fading away..."

Well, that's what happens when you put your whole being into an attack. You know what I mean? Not that Nobodies actually _have_ beings...right? Anyway, I digress. Go, find Kairi. Oh, almost forgot... Sorry for what I did to her.

His hand tightens hard on mine, a look of sheer determination appearing in his eyes. He shakes his head hard. "When we see her, you can tell her yourself!"

I smile. That'd be nice, wouldn't it? I'd like... to say that I'm sorry...

Sora's hand moves onto my forehead, making me blink hard against the tears. "Then we're going to tell her together!" A bolt of green light flashes across my eyes and I can suddenly breathe again.

I can breathe again.

Does that mean... I... get... another chance... Roxas?


	9. Chapter 9: Kindness - Forgiveness

Seven Heavenly

Kindness: Forgiveness

"Are you really so easy to forgive?"

No one answered the girl's question, since she was asking it to an empty room. But she knew someone was actually listening. Kairi sat down on her bed and placed her hand on her chest. For a moment, all she could hear the thump thump thump of her heart.

And then she got her answer.

_'... K... ai... ri...?'_

The voice was hesitant, even frightened. The Princess of Heart knew that she was the only one who could hear it; after all, it was in her own heart. Maybe Sora could have heard this girl's voice, but only Kairi could speak to her.

"Your name... is Naminé right?"

The voice didn't answer for a while, allowing Kairi time to lean back and retrieve her dinner from the tray on the floor. Just as she was about to dig into a plate of fish stew, she heard the whisper._ '... Yes...'_ The girl answered softly. _'My name... is... Naminé...'_

Then it paused and said,_ 'I'm the witch who took Sora away from you.'_

Kairi stopped in mid-bite, startled by the admission. She had known there was a reason why Sora and Riku hadn't come back to Destiny Islands, though neither of the boys would say exactly what it was. If her Nobody, if Naminé had had something to do with it, it explained a lot.

But what exactly had she done?

The Princess gulped down the bit of stew she had in her mouth before pushing the plate aside. "What did you do, Naminé?" She asked insistently as she folds her hands into her lap neatly. She needed an answer. She needed to know why her best friends had been gone for so long. Maybe she didn't deserve the answer, but if she had had something to do with it...

_'... I destroyed Sora's memories of you. He had to... sleep... for a long time... I'm... sorry... Sora...'_

Kairi's hand pressed hard against her mouth as Naminé confessed. Her eyes slowly filled with tears and they overflowed as the Nobody's story continued.

_'I stole Sora away. I wanted him to be my... friend... I didn't want him to leave the Castle... So I destroyed his memories and changed them so that I would be in there instead...'_ The voice sighed softly, though if it was from regret or annoyance Kairi couldn't tell. _'But your memories were too powerful. No matter what I did... Sora... would never forget you. You stayed inside him, making him too strong to bow to my powers... I'm glad... he was... I don't think... he would have been the same without those memories... Riku... spent all that time trying to make Sora wake up from his spell... All I wish... is that... I had another chance... so I... could... say I was sorry...'_ She stopped for a moment before asking nervously. _'Could you tell him that I'm sorry?'_

Kairi didn't know what to say. This was what had happened? Her friends had remained trapped in the whims of her Nobody, just because she had wanted a friend of her own? For a moment, Kairi could see the image of the little blond girl in the white dress she had met in Castle Oblivion.

Even then, she had always felt that Naminé was sad, that her shoulders were burdened with a heavy conscience over something that had happened. But this... was the reason that she was sad?

Kairi took a moment to decide what she wanted to do. She got up, listening to the silence of her Nobody in her head. "Naminé... I think... you should tell Sora yourself." She stated bluntly as she walked over to the mirror hanging on her bedroom door.

_'I... can't...'_ Naminé said in confusion, obviously not knowing what her Other was up to. _'I don't have a body... not a real one...'_

Standing in front of the mirror, Kairi could see every little bit of herself, down to the pink shoes on her feet, up her form fitting rose dress with all the silver zippers, to the black string pendant on her throat, to her blue eyes, to her red hair. She could see herself. She put a hand on the mirror and started to focus hard.

She had no idea if it would work, but she was hoping that it could. Kairi focused on the idea of Naminé, of Naminé standing in the mirror instead of her. She could see the girl's shoulder length blond hair, the soft baby down that she had ran after in the Castle That Never Was. She could see the girl's violet-blue eyes, a similar but different shade of her own because it was tempered harshly by the sadness that the young Nobody could feel. Kairi could see Naminé's thigh-length white dress with the lace at the bottom and even her little blue sandals on her feet.

_'What... ow! What are you doing?!'_ Naminé cried out as a burning sensation ran through their shared body. Kairi grunted and clutched at her heart, letting out a scream as a bolt of lightning seemed to stab through her chest._ 'Kairi!'_

She crumpled to her knees, slamming her head on the mirror and falling unconscious.

_'Kairi!'_

* * *

"Yes, she's not feeling well, Sora. Why don't you come back later?" The Mayor asked in a half-joking manner. They both knew that the boy wouldn't leave until he had seen Kairi for himself.

Predictably, Sora shook his head and smiled. "Sorry, Mayor, we were going to go out with Riku today but she didn't show up. Is she really not feeling that well?" He asked curiously and he shifted the bundle of flowers he was holding to his other hand.

The Mayor shook his head. "She just took a tray of food to her room and she hasn't come out in a while. I'm sure it's nothing more than a summer cold, you and Riku don't need to worry about it."

At the sound of his name, Riku glanced up from where he was staring, a picture of him, Kairi, and Sora when they were younger. "Kind of our job to worry about her, sir. She keeps getting into trouble." He retorted in amusement. The mayor laughed and nodded, opening the door further to let the two boys in.

The moment that Sora set foot into the house, his eyes widened and his breathing accelerated. The boy clutched at his heart hard, looking as if he had just been punched in the stomach.

"Sora? What's wrong?" Riku asked curiously before Sora shoved the flowers into his hands and bolted for the hall.

"Kairi! Kairi, what's wrong?!" Sora shouted as he ran for her room, tears trickling down his cheeks. The other two immediately chased after him, shouting at him to slow down and to explain himself. But he could feel it inside of him. Something wrong, just so wrong... and it had to do with Kairi.

He slammed into her bedroom door, nearly knocking himself out as he threw it open. The moment he does, however, Sora crumpled to his knees, unable to believe what he was seeing.

Instead of his friend sitting in front of the mirror, he sees a different but still as familiar girl. He had thought he would never see her again. Naminé continued to cry as Sora got up and started walking toward her. The Nobody wailed silently into her hands, rocking herself against the mirror in a state of shock.

"She's too kind... she... can't..." The girl babbled hysterically, choking on the words as she cried. Sora plopped down next to her, picking her up and hugging her close. She began crying into his shoulder, begging for forgiveness. "I didn't mean to... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..."

"Where is she?" Sora asked calmly even as he began to cry too. Naminé shook her head hard. "I don't know... She's gone..." She whimpered and fell silent again. The boy could say nothing to that. He could guess that it wasn't either of the girls' faults but that something had gone horribly wrong.

But what happened?

Sora ran his fingers through Naminé's hair, soothing her like a father would soothe a crying baby. As the Mayor and Riku burst through the door, she began to sob again, this time pleading with Sora to not let Riku take her away.

"Don't make him take me away, please, I have to get Kairi back, I have to get her back!"

Riku immediately collapsed onto Kairi's bed, looking like he was about to throw up. "What is Naminé doing here? What happened? Where's Kairi?" He demanded as Sora kept trying to make her stop crying. The girl hiccuped once, choking on her tears.

"Kairi's too nice. She... let... me say that I was sorry... to Sora... but... I don't know... how to get her back...!"

* * *

It was cold where she was, but warm at the same time. Kairi could hear voices, but she wasn't able to make out what they were saying. They were just too far away.

Instead, she just sat down on the beach, looking out into the white waves as the clear sky overhead rumbled with thunder. She smiled in amusement._** 'Is this what my heart looks like? It's beautiful.'**_

Swapping places had been almost easy for some reason. She knew that this was where Naminé lived inside of her. This was her Heart of hearts. It was beautiful, an almost perfect copy of Destiny Islands... except whiter and more empty. Everything else was the same or more perfect than on the real island. It was more complete. It was strange... for some reason, Kairi knew that she only really needed one more thing to make her heart complete. But she didn't know what... or who... it actually was.

If she stayed here for a while longer, could she know what it was that her heart was longing for?


	10. Chapter 10: Liberality - White

Seven Heavenly

**Liberality: White**

The boy slept peacefully on his bed, unaware of the man watching him. Riku turned to look at Kairi next, checking to see if she was just as asleep as Sora was. The Princess' soft breathing was all of the reassurance that he needed.

Riku sighed as he leaned back on his chair, pressing his head to the white wall behind him.

How long had they had been here with him? How long had Sora and Kairi resisted his power, resisted becoming what he was? Riku didn't know anymore. All he knew was that out of the entire universe, from all the worlds between Hollow Bastian and Destiny Islands, these two children were the only ones who had been unable to become Dark creatures too.

Riku chuckled softly when Sora rolled to his side in his sleep and he listened closely when the boy muttered something about having to go take a tap dancing test with Selphie the next day and why wouldn't Kairi just let him put on his hula skirt in peace.

It was at that moment that the Lord of the Worlds of Light knew that their friendship, no... their capture... couldn't last much longer.

"Wake up, Sora, Kairi." He commanded softly, reaching up with a gloved hand to wipe away a lone tear that was threatening to trickle down his cheek. The two kids immediately began to stir, their fingers the first to come out of their induced sleep.

Sora's hands scratched hard against the blanket he was covered with, as if trying to dig himself out of his sleep. Black smoke oozed from his mouth, the Darkness that Riku had forced into him coming out. His blue eyes, blue like the sky that had once hung over their island home, blinked once, twice, three times before they focused on Riku.

Riku nodded once to the questions he saw burning within those angry eyes and turned to look at Kairi. The girl was stirring as well, her fingers dancing along the lacy edge of her white covers. She blinked a few times before yawning sleepily.

"Kairi!" Sora cried out in shock, the result of Riku tampering with his memories for the last ten years. He would never be able to remember exactly what had happened to him throughout the time period... a small mercy on Riku's behalf. The man watched as the boy hurtled himself out of bed, running to the girl's side and cradling her close as she stirred.

The deep, long scars that covered the boy's arms, legs, and chest were all because of him, after all. Riku wondered what Kairi would think when she saw them.

He also wondered what she would think of the matching ones on her.

The man watched quietly as the girl sobbed silently into the boy's chest, watched the way she clung to him as if she would never let him go. Kairi had never done that with him, neither had Sora held him with that same intensity and the same silent promise to be his guardian.

"Well... you're both awake... this is the first time... in about ten years we are all here together, at the same time," Riku said softly, making the two snap out of their reverie and look at him. Sora immediately pressed Kairi behind him and held his hand out to the side, presumably to summon the one weapon that could harm Riku in all of these worlds.

Riku smiles. "Don't bother, Sora. I am not your enemy." He informs him sincerely, though Sora continued to stare at him in anger. As the boy nodded slowly and sat down on Kairi's bed, Riku noticed that his hand was already woven with the Princess'. He chuckled at the sight, feeling the beginning of the loneliness that had prompted him to steal his two best friends away in the first place. He leaned back again in his chair, making it balance his entire weight on its two back legs.

"I wanted to ask you something, something for both of you." Riku said softly, his golden eyes fixated on their hands. Kairi squeezed Sora's hand slightly, as if reassuring herself that he was still there. "I wanted to give you two a present."

"A present?" Sora blurted out in surprise.

Riku nodded and held up one finger. "It has to be for both of you." He said honestly, giving them a shrug. Sora turned to look at Kairi for a moment and he squeezed her hand gently.

"I want Kairi to go free. I want her to get away from you." The boy stated bluntly, turning back around to look at Riku. The defiant look in his eyes made the man laugh; it had been a long time since Sora had had the strength to fight him like this.

It was a very good sign.

Kairi sat up in bed, shaking her head rapidly. "No! You said it had to be for both of us!" She cried out and she yanked her hand out of Sora's. The boy turned around in surprise, but Kairi just pointed at him. "I want Sora to go free!"

Sora shook his head and grabbed Kairi's shoulders, pulling her into him. "I don't want Riku to hurt you..." He whispered in a quiet voice, obviously trying to keep the man from overhearing him. Riku smiled, amused that Sora thought he could hurt Kairi.

Kairi immediately pulled away, rubbed her eyes hard, and looked back up at Sora. "I don't want him to hurt you! I can take it, Sora. You... we promised that we would go back home together, remember? You have to go home _first_!" She said in a shaky voice. Within a few moments, she began to cry and tremble violently.

Riku knew why. She was terrified of him, terrified of what he could do to her... and yet, she was willing to put up with it in order to let Sora get away.

"Is that your final wish?" He asked her quietly, giving the sobbing Princess a gentle smile to show that he meant no harm. Kairi whimpered and nodded once. The tears kept flowing down her pale cheeks.

"No, wait, Kairi-!" Sora cried out as Riku snatched his hand up and hauled the boy to his feet roughly. Riku immediately had to dodge a punch thrown by the young Keyblade Master as he tried to get back to his friend. He grabbed both of Sora's hands and shoved him hard back onto the bed, flattening him against Kairi.

"I guess this is good bye... old friend..." Riku told the struggling boy, pinning him down against the bed. A sad smile slowly crossed the man's face as black smoke began appearing in his hands.

Sora and Kairi cried out each other's names just once before they were absorbed and vanished. Riku said the names once as he stared at the empty space where the bed had been and began to sob. His heart was broken... but he had sent his friends to the once place he could never go. He had sent them to the one last world with light in it.

"Sora... Kairi... you... be safe..." He whispered to the empty space as he collapsed onto his knees and cried.

* * *

"Are they dead?"

"Course they're not dead, they're breathing!"

"Well... they're on a bed... maybe they're asleep?"

"Who'd sleep _here_, you idiot?"

Sora blinked against the harsh sunlight, lifting his hand up to protect his eyes. The sunlight was familiar... like he had...

Gone... home...

"Kairi!" Sora blurted out in the same instant that he realized that she should have been there with him. He jumped out of the bed and turned to see the girl curled up under her blanket, just as she had been in Riku's prison. He grabbed her shoulder and shook her, trying to wake her up.

"Sora...?" Kairi asked in return, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. Sora softened as the girl slowly woke up and he pulled her into him, hugging her as she awoke. After a few minutes, she was fully awake and they both sat up together.

Three children were watching them curiously; one of the two boys was making a mildly disgusted face, the second was laughing and he gave Sora a thumbs up, and the girl was sighing wistfully.

"They are so sweet!" The girl declared in amusement, swaying so that her long brown hair danced alongside her. The two boys gave her a look before laughing. "That they are, Princess Garnet!" The blond joked, shaking his head even though he had been the one to make a face.

The other boy tipped his hat at Kairi, giving her a cocky wink. "Don't mind my friends, they're idiots." He told her calmly before taking her hand, placing a kiss on her knuckles. He winked again. "My name's Irvine, Irvine Kinneas... and it's _very_ nice to meet you, miss!"

"Oh... uh... I'm Kairi..." Kairi said with a blush, startled by the child's bluntness. He didn't even look like he was ten years old, and he was already hitting on her. "And he's called Sora." She pointed to the now scowling Sora, who just nodded and then grinned.

"So uh... we just kinda woke up. Where are we, Irvine, Garnet?" He asked curiously.

The other boy immediately started bouncing up and down, shaking his fists in anger. "And me! Don't forget me! I'm Zidane!" He cried out, looking hurt at being left out.

Sora rubbed at his hair, giving him an apologetic smile. "Okay... then where are, Irvine, Garnet, and Zidane?" He amended with that same happy smile. Kairi leaned in onto him, holding him close as the trio turned to each other and nodded once.

"You're on Destiny Islands!" The kids cried out in unison, each one flashing the now free couple big smiles.

Sora and Kairi stared at them for a moment before looking at each other in amazement. "He... sent us home..." Sora said in surprise as Kairi slipped her hand back into Sora's. She nodded once. "He knew what our wish was... Riku's... still in there somewhere... that's why he protected us." The Princess said honestly and she began to cry for their friend, the one that had been trapped in Darkness for so long.

The boy leaned her head onto his shoulder, holding her close despite the cries of protest from both Irvine and Zidane. "Then we're going to give him what he gave us..." Sora vowed to her. The Keyblade Master and the Princess shared a pair of gentle smiles as their fingers wove together.

"We're going to give Riku his freedom, too!"

* * *

**Dammit, Sora! Why'd you hijack Riku's redemption and turn it into something for you and Kairi?! XD**

**Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasies IX and VIII are not mine. In other words... I DEMAND IRVINE KINNEAS IN KH3! I hope you guys enjoyed this, and please review! We're only a few heavenly attributes away from finishing this fic up!**


	11. Chapter 11: Diligence -Hard Work Kills

Seven Heavenly

**Diligence: Hard Work Kills**

_Come with me..._

The boy pulled hard against the hand clutching at his wrist, struggling to pull himself free from the phantasm's holding onto him. It laughed at him, so very amused by his attempts.

_Come with me... Come with me... Roxas...!_

"No!" Roxas screamed as he bolted up in bed, his hands outstretched to shove the monster off of him. But his fingers clawed at empty air instead.

He panted softly to himself, his blue eyes staring in horror at the wall opposite to his bed. Roxas ran a hand weakly through his cropped blond hair, remembering vaguely that he had had a nightmare. Even now, as he sat there in his soaked sheets and covered in sweat, the details of the dream were fading from his memory...

"Another dream... just another dream..." The gladiator whispered to himself, trying to reassure himself of it. But as always, Roxas had to check his wrist to see if it had been only a dream.

The tears trickled down his face as he lifted his sleeve and saw the dark bruises on the wrist that had been unharmed when he had fallen asleep the previous night.

"Roxas?" A friendly voice asked from the doorway, interrupting calmly. "Are you okay?"

Roxas looked up to see his mentor standing in the doorway and he could tell that Hercules was already getting worried. He shoved his sleeve over his wrist and hopped out of bed, nodding to him.

"Yeah... just fine... What's going on?" Roxas asked curiously, suddenly noticing that he was the only one in the barracks. Normally, there would be at least three other kids that were being trained by Hercules or by his trainer Phil, but now they were all gone.

A look of pain flashed across the hero's face and Hercules' eyes dropped to the floor. "You'll see in a moment. Get dressed now; you're the only one that can help with this." He stated in a no nonsense voice and he tapped his sandal against the floor in emphasis.

Roxas knew that look. Without saying a word, he peeled his pajama top off and started looking for his armor. Since the day he had arrived in this world, since running away from the Organization, he had been given one task and one task only.

"It's the Heartless, isn't it. They took the others?" Roxas demanded as he shoved his feet into a pair of sandals and started to lace them up his calves. Hercules nodded once before walking to his pupil's bed and hauling it out from underneath the bed with one hand. Despite its immense weight courtesy of his leather armor and his weighted swords, Hercules did it easily and even managed to bust it open within a matter of moments.

Roxas knew that the poor lock was a goner, yet another victim of Hercules' godly strength.

"Where are they? Where are the others?" Roxas asked as he slipped on his shift and held out a hand for his armor. Hercules chucked a handful of leather pieces at him and took a seat next to him as he got ready.

He put on his breastplate and bent down to let Hercules tie it for him in the back. Roxas put on the leg guards and bracers on his own, able to reach the lacings easily.

"They're trapped near the entrance to the Underworld," His mentor told him with a slight crack in his voice. Roxas paused for a moment, knowing the reason that the greatest hero in this world would be cautious of the Underworld despite the fact that he was practically immortal.

It wasn't every person whose Uncle was the ruler of the dead and it wasn't every Uncle that would be willing to kill his nephew just to prove a point to his big brother.

"Those idiots tried to get into the Underworld? Why?" Roxas asked in shock, knowing that his fellow students were just as terrified of the world of the dead as he was. They would see their old family members whenever they got near the place, beckoning them to come join them... it was the only reason he was glad to have been a Nobody and not have a family in the first place.

Hercules shook his head in sorrow. "Hades tricked them; that's all I got from them before I had to go get you. They've stuck themselves in some barrels and they can't leave them. If they do, the monsters will get in so they can eat them."

Roxas scowled angrily; of course they were trapped in the spookiest entrance in the entire Coliseum. Of course it would be his lucky day. He slung a sword over his shoulders and tore off toward the exit.

* * *

"Roxas! Let us outta here!"

"What took you so long?"

"Come on, get us out!"

The insistent whining of the three voices of his fellow students was almost enough to make Roxas turn back around and go hide in the safety of his barrack bed. He skidded to a stop in front of the three barrels and began looking around for the Heartless.

There was none there.

"What the? Is this some kind of joke?" Roxas demanded from the three students, folding his arms across his chest so he could peek into a series of holes drilled into the sides of the wine barrels. "Cause I'm not laughing and I'm going to leave you three in there."

"No! Wait!" One of the students cried out, begging him not to go. Roxas took a moment to listen to Atlanta's panicked words. "There was someone here and she was controlling those things! She said if we stayed in here, that we wouldn't be hurt!"

"... She?"

_Come with me... Roxas..._

Every hair on the back of Roxas' neck suddenly shot up to attention as the voice hissed softly into his ear. The air around him dropped about twenty degrees, becoming colder than even the snow-covered world of Christmas Town.

He knew that voice.

"... It can't... be..." Roxas whispered to himself quietly as the bruises around his wrist began to throb rapidly. The throbbing mimicked the beat of his own heart, only stronger and much more painful. He turned around to see a very familiar girl standing before him, in exactly the same way that she had once faced him.

Xion smiled at him, her dark yellow eyes crinkling in amusement as they swept up and down his body.

Roxas' hand immediately went for the sword on his back, but the phantasm image of his friend just shook her head and laughed the moment he did. He dropped his hand as the girl held out her own weapon to him.

_Come with me, Roxas. Come with me, Roxas... _

"As if!" Roxas snarled angrily as he snatched his sword out of his scabbard. Upon seeing the steel weapon, Xion threw her head back and laughed inaudibly. For the first time, he could see the way that her transparent body flickered between being and _not_ being.

Her tattered black cloak, torn from their previous fight where he had killed her, could barely hang onto her skeleton form. Her body was riddled with long scars, remnants from that battle and from where she had faded away into him and made him whole. But now everything made sense.

_Xion_ had been the phantasm that had been haunting him for so long.

"I will not let you hurt my friends!" Roxas exclaimed in his best gladiator voice, purposely making it deeper and much more confident than his usual voice. Xion's eyebrow rose slightly and her smile grew that much more. He slammed his foot into the ground, sending up a spray of grit in challenge. "Leave this place!"

Xion laughed again, though no sound emerged from her mouth. The spirits in this world could not speak, after all.

_Oh... but you've hurt your friends before, Roxas._

Roxas flinched, but held his ground as the phantasm took a few rapid steps forward. Her head twisted toward him, contorting in a way that would have resulted in a broken neck for a living being.

_You killed me after all. You killed that Pence boy in Twilight Town._

He could remember that day, he could remember that boy's pleading as the Heartless came to him and ate him alive. He could remember his own apathy, the way that he had slept peacefully after all of the noise had disappeared. After all, Roxas hadn't needed to fear the Heartless; he hadn't had a Heart for them to steal.

His hand tightened on his sword, though it shook that much harder under the ghost's words.

_You've fought so hard to battle your sins away, to forget what you've done... Do you really think that would be enough?_

The ghost's lips spread open, cracking the skin open on her pale cheeks. Thick, greasy black blood trickled down her face as her eyes shone a deeper shade of gold. Her hands spasmed inside of her ripped gloves, her nails elongating into sharp red talons. Roxas watched uneasily as Xion continued to transform. Just what was she becoming?

_You killed me, you killed Pence, you killed Sora, you killed Riku, you killed so many... so many are dead because of you...!_

The ghost let a loud, deep screech that immediately sent a series of red flags and alarms going off in Roxas' head. Ghosts couldn't make noise. This wasn't a ghost-!

Roxas screamed as the ghost's hand shot forward, ripping free from the tattered black sleeve and the arm it had been attached to. The bone white fingers clawed at the air for a moment, wriggling and writhing to some unknown rhythm in the phantasm's head before stilling completely.

It hung there in the air, completely still except for a slight movement in its fingers. Xion smiled and nodded to her disembodied hand. It snapped in the air, moving upward a few inches.

It moved to exactly the right height to grab Roxas' throat.

Before the boy could move, the hand was already at his neck, squeezing and tightening its steely grip around his trachea. Roxas brought his blade up to the hand, driving the point right between the knuckles.

Black blood drippled down his neck as the phantasm moved forward, a taunting smile on her face.

_Why don't we see just how far your diligence will take you... my dear... _**Sora**_?_

Roxas could feel the darkness gathering in his eyes, his training already becoming forgotten in the abyss. "K..." He whispered softly. "K-Kai... ri... Ri... Riku..." Tears trickled down his cheeks as he clawed at the hand and stabbed it with his sword, but nothing happened. It only kept tightening, it only kept tightening around him... he couldn't breathe...

He knew nothing after that, not even the cries of his classmates as they were devoured by the phantasm.


	12. Chapter 12: Chastity - Waiting

**Just for reference... Chastity has several definitions. The one I chose to use was: "restraint and simplicity in design or expression."**

**Please enjoy and review. :)**

* * *

Seven Heavenly

**Chastity: Waiting**

The look on Sora's face was ecstatic, even deliciously happy as he looked into the dark portal that she had created. It made her smile, made her feel warm inside even though she had no Heart to help her make that warmth.

She was _happy_.

"For me, Naminé?" He asked curiously, the bright smile beginning to falter slightly on the twenty five year old's face. Sora looked around nervously at the white walls and rooms that made up their home. "I mean... you said to _never_ leave the Castle." He said honestly.

Naminé nodded and smiled. "I know... but it's not every day you turn twenty five, dear. I thought it'd be a nice surprise!" She laughed sheepishly. The smile on his face suddenly grew three sizes bigger, making her nonexistent Heart flutter inside of her chest.

She loved him so much.

* * *

The sun hurt her eyes as she awakened.

After a moment Naminé looked up to the ceiling of her home, watching carefully for any signs of the boy being awake. If he was, the sand above her would shake hard and trickle into her eyes. She would also hear the voice of her warden telling the boy to wake up completely and to haul his butt out of bed.

The ceiling didn't move. But the memory witch did hear voices.

"I don't care if she thinks he's her son, I'm not letting him see her." Riku said irritably to someone and she heard the sound of something being slammed onto the kitchen table just above her head. "Naminé's a monster for keeping Sora locked up for so many years."

The witch wrapped her arms around her legs, listening intently to the voices. He was talking about Sora. He was talking about her son. If she listened, she could know more about what happened to both of them.

The second voice was familiar, but not quite the same. "Riku... you know that she was lonely," The stranger said in a calm way. His words were followed by the clink of a mug being placed on the table. "Nobodies don't have emotions, so her actions-"

"I don't give a damn about her actions! _ I don't care what she thought she was doing! _She killed them both and now he doesn't have his mother _or_ his father!" She heard another slam, presumably Riku's fists this time. "Because of _her_! Because what she did in order to make sure that a Nobody could have a child!"

Naminé remembered. She remembered what she did in order to have her son.

A tentative hand dropped to her not quite swollen belly, gently feeling beneath the soft fabric of her white dress.

"We're... we're gonna have a...?" Sora stammered out nervously, obviously not knowing what to think of her announcement. Naminé smiled and nodded.

"We're going to have a baby."

The shy smile on his face was almost enough to make her feel. All she needed in order to have the baby was a Heart. With a Heart, she would be able to have the baby. With a Heart, Naminé would be whole and her promises would come true.

All she needed was to find Kairi.

Sora wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close, and hugged her. "I love you, dear," The Keyblade Master whispered to her and the emotion in his voice was so real, it made her begin to cry. "I love you."

Naminé hugged him back, and she knew that she would find Kairi soon. A smile crossed her lips as she rubbed the small of Sora's back, attempting to calm down the overexcited man.

All she needed to do now was to kill Kairi and rip her Heart out and she knew _exactly_ where to go to find her.

"Sora... would you like to go out with me soon? For your birthday?"

* * *

She hadn't touched anything in years.

Naminé looked up at the ceiling and wondered where her son was. She hadn't been able to see him, hadn't been able to touch him in years. She hadn't been able to for years. Riku had taken him away from her.

If she was good, then she could see her son. That had been the deal with Riku from years ago. In exchange for giving birth to her child, Riku would raise him and make sure that Sora would take care of him too.

The memory witch had been trapped alone in the house beneath the sand for the fourteen years that her son had been alive. She glanced back up to the ceiling, getting up only to check the place where her son's bed was above her. One part of her room was underneath her son's room and the other part was under the kitchen. She wasn't sure if Riku had planned it that way when he dug the rooms out.

She couldn't actually touch it, of course; the layers of sand between the floorboards and her prison took care of that. But she could almost feel the boy sleeping above him. Naminé reached up to the ceiling and touched the sand, trying to feel the warmth of her child.

But she couldn't feel it, not since she had lost Kairi's Heart. She couldn't feel anything anymore. She dropped back down to her bed, waiting patiently for the movement above her.

"She's lonely. Staying down there, under that promise that if she touches anything she'll be trapped there forever..." The second voice continued suddenly. "It's not right, Riku, forcing her into that so-called purity."

Riku sighed, obviously having calmed down enough to talk rationally. She hears the scraping of a chair and the clinking of plates moving against each other as the man rearranged things on the table. "It's not right what she did to you, Sora... or Roxas, whatever name you like."

Roxas chuckled softly, though there was no emotion in his voice. "Roxas. Sora and I aren't quite the same person, and you know that," He explained patiently, though Riku snorted in mocking laughter. "We don't share all of the same memories, only the most painful or the most clear so I can understand why she thought getting rid of Kairi was the best option. ... She wasn't right in the head then, Riku."

Naminé heard the slurp of something being drunk from a glass. "Of course not, she was pregnant... or she claimed she was. Don't you think it's weird that she couldn't have Skye until well after she stole Kairi's Heart? It took her nine months..." Riku coughed and took another slurp from his cup.

Coffee, probably. She could smell it even though the sand.

"Because she became Kairi, more or less. That's why her son isn't her son." Roxas theorized with a laugh. "That's why he has red hair instead blond. Because he's Sora's son through Kairi."

Naminé's body shook angrily, though she couldn't quite feel the emotion. How dare they, how dare they say that her son wasn't hers? She had given birth to him, she had felt him move inside of her, she had stolen a Heart to make sure that her dreams came true for him, she was trapped in this sandy hellhole in order to make sure that Riku treated him right!

"You know she can hear us, right?" Roxas asked softly and she heard him set his glass down.

Riku laughed. "Of course I know. She should hear this. I would have killed your 'son' if he had had blond hair, Naminé!" He called out to her mockingly. Naminé hissed at the ceiling but made no other noise, trying to stay clean and pure and simple so that she could hold her son again. "He's not yours, Naminé, he's Kairi's!" He repeated before dropping his voice to a low whisper, keeping her from hearing any further.

Simple and clean.

All she had to do was to remain clean and not touch anything. Then she would have her family again. And then she would be able to wipe every single memory that that son of a bitch Riku had ever had and turn him into a broken little puppet for what he had forced her to do to Sora.

The tears trickled down the memory witch's pale pale cheeks as she thought about holding her son... about holding Sora... one more time. A smile crossed the woman's lips as she thought about her dear family. Sora would forgive her, her son would forgive her, and everything would be okay. Kairi no longer existed, Riku just needed to be wiped, and she would be free again.

Her purity only needed to last just a little bit longer.


	13. Chapter 13: Patience - Ready or Not

**Okay, so now I have to explain what the hell I'm doing. You see, I suddenly realized a few chapters ago that I was giving them happy endings for their heavenly attributes. So uh... this is under horror, right? And I'm in a really miserable sort of mood so... Why am I _not_ doing horror stuff? This is what the fic was about! So on that note, if you're a Sora fan... stay tuned.  
**

**By the way, Kingdom Hearts is not mine but the two characters mentioned in this story are in fact _my original _characters for stories I may end up publishing. If you guys try to use them, I'm going after you cause these gals are my babies. You have been warned.**

* * *

Seven Heavenly

**Patience: Ready or Not**

I tap the stone in front of me, patiently counting the bricks in the wall. "One, two, three, four..." I count out loud as I wait for my target to show up.

Roxas turns to look at me, raising an eyebrow but saying nothing to my antics. After all, he can't speak, not since he died. He just leans back and watches me lazily, his tattoo-covered eyes staring at me miserably like they did when I held him in my arms the first time he died.

"What? I'm bored," I told him before counting again. "Five, six, seven... which one are we after, again?" I ask curiously, suddenly realizing that I had no idea. Roxas takes a moment to think about it before raising seven fingers.

I wince at that, knowing that Saïx was one of the most vicious members of the Organization. How exactly would we be able to team up against him if Roxas couldn't fight with his Keyblade?

We'd both made huge sacrifices in order to bring him back: me, I gave a huge chunk of my memories and Roxas gave up his Keyblade and his voice, along with getting his skin branded by the witches that had brought him back. The Gorgon and sorceress had been understandingly reluctant to bring him back since he wasn't a full human, but luckily they had been able to take care of that too.

For a price, of course. Miss Medusa and Miss Melinda never did anything for free, as Roxas and I had found out.

Roxas rubs at his eyes and once again, the golden irises make him look like he was a Heartless. I know it was only a mark of the witch but seriously, couldn't they have picked another color for Roxas to tattoo him with? I mean, the ones _around_ his eyes were black! Each of the black lines ended in a a small snake-like swirl, so I know Miss Melinda could have picked another color...

Roxas plunked his hand onto my shoulder, his questioning smile asking me what I was thinking about and at the same time, calming me down so we could focus on our mission.

"Don't worry," I tell him with a big smile, "We're going to be alright, even if it _is_ Saïx." He looks at me with more than a little bit of worry, so I quickly figure out what he was thinking. "And I'm not scared of him anymore, so calm down. We have to keep waiting for him."

Satisfied, Roxas drops his hand from my shoulder and puts it back onto the hilt of the sword hanging from his hip. He still looks awkward with it, since it's not as light or magical as the Keyblade he had lost. But soon, he's humming softly to himself and bopping his head to the song.

I smile, pleased at seeing my friend so happy after all. I turn back to the wall and keep counting, since Saïx wasn't due to leave this world (or the bar where he was collecting intel) until midnight.

We stay there in the alley for about three hours waiting for our dear number VII.

Finally, at about 12:45 (Roxas' watch was a little slow), we see the bar emptying out. The huge crowd is singing at the top of their lungs, howling out a song for all of the world to hear. "Oh, sweet Dahlia, my sweet Dahlia, give me a kiss, give me a touch, for without you I'll be lost! Oh my sweet Dahlia!"

I wonder who Dahlia is?

Roxas grabs my hand and tugs hard on it, making me look away from the drunken crowd to the silent figure walking out behind them. Like everything he does, Saïx stalks out of the bar and watches everything with suspicion and a cold aloofness that only a true Nobody could have.

Twin grins appear on our faces as Roxas drops my hand and winks.

I give him a nod, giving him permission to head off. He quickly pulls his red hood up to cover his face and walks toward the crowd, staggering as if he was one of the drunken partyers too. I lean back and wait for my target to come a little closer, just a little closer.

As Roxas moves toward the bar, he brushes against Saïx and nearly topples him over. I see the Nobody give him a vicious glare but reach down toward him when he stumbles and falls to his knees. I see him laughing and humming along with the song everyone was singing.

A few words pass between them, coming from Saïx of course. He must be scolding Roxas for being so clumsy. After the boy nods a few times and raises his hands in apology, VII turns away and shakes his head.

That's when Roxas unsheathes his sword and rams it through his back.

Saïx's eyes widen as he feels the blade penetrate him and he places a gloved hand to his stomach. Even if he couldn't feel any emotions, the horror in his face is clear enough and I laugh softly as he tumbles to his knees. Blood trickles down his mouth as he is quickly silence by Roxas' placing his hand over it.

I make my way over just as Roxas is hauling Saïx to his feet and forcing the Nobody to put his arm around his shoulder. "Hey there!" I call out to him with a big smile, watching with satisfaction as the Nobody recognizes my voice and turns to see me. "I see that you have a bit of a problem," I tease him, giving him a hearty wink that makes him instantly see that I do in fact have emotions and am not a puppet. "Would you like some help?"

Okay, so maybe I do have a bit of a grudge against Saïx. But I'm definitely not scared of him anymore. He should be scared of _me _now.

I summon my Keyblade in a flash of white light and hold the blade to Saïx's throat. I watch the terror in his eyes as he attempts to rip his way out of Roxas' grip. But luckily, Roxas is a lot stronger than he once was and the Nobody doesn't budge.

Roxas gives me a wink as I prop Saïx's head up with the head of the Keyblade. "You remember us?" I ask curiously. The moment Saïx lets loose with a series of vile curse words directed at the 'miserable puppet,' I nod to Roxas.

He doesn't take much time to rip the blade out of Saïx's back and send the bastard flying to the cobblestone street with a well-aimed spin of his legs. The Nobody slams hard into the street but no one bothers to look at him, each one seeing something different or not caring about a total stranger's murder.

I lift up the Keyblade and smile at Roxas, knowing we were one Nobody closer to clearing our debt with the witches. Saïx scrambles at the tiles, lifting himself just enough to try to summon his Claymore. I walk forward and press my foot into his hand, driving my boot heels deep into his flesh.

As he looks up at me, I see the characteristic rage in his eyes that granted him the ability to control the Berserker Nobodies. I smile at him and bend down to be at his level. I kneel on his chest and grasp his chin, lifting his head up to look into my face.

"Lea..." I tell him calmly, watching the fury drain out of his face at the name. "... is alive. He's safe with us."

Saïx stares at me in a blank way, knowing that I had been the one to kill off Axel. This was before Roxas had been brought back, back when he was nothing more than a vicious voice in the back of my head. Roxas had been the one who suggested Axel's murder, only to find out that Nobodies could come back.

Lea, specifically, came back. His Heartless had been destroyed some time ago, so his Heart and Soul were able to combine together again. We are still friends, though he wasn't happy with me killing him before. I smile as Saïx starts to speak, obviously about to beg for information about his old friend and to see if he was alright.

I shake his head forcibly, smiling at how he suddenly fell silent. "Now... be patient! _You're_ not going to be coming back," I tell him with a laugh. "We have your Heartless safe and sound with the witches... and they said specifically that they didn't think _you_ were worth saving. Something about how what a monstrosity you are for becoming a Nobody and not being an innocent. You'll never see Lea ever again."

Roxas nods once, waiting patiently for me to give him instructions. But I'm not quite done yet. I lift his head up a little more, making him look at me like he never did when I was part of the Organization. "You'll never see him again... as long as your Heartless remains alive," I whisper teasingly, laughing as he tries to spit in my face. "You'll never be alive again and Lea will be with _us_ instead of _you_."

I really enjoy the look in Saïx's eyes, the absolute despair in his eyes and the one true emotion I've ever seen him have, when I give Roxas the signal to cut his head off.


	14. Chapter 14: Abstinence - Just for You

**So this is a little present for my real life friend, Jonathan. Happy le late birthday, my friend. :D I hope I did well.**

**On another slightly funny note, I used a single definition of abstinence for this chapter but used it in two different ways: " the fact or practice of restraining oneself from indulging in something."**

**Also... be ready for the bonus chapters! Forbidden out!**

**Again to the Sora fans (specifically Namine031898 since you got a little upset for Sora's sin chapter, by the way hi), I'm giving you a warning. Please enjoy and review. **

* * *

Seven Heavenly

**Abstinence: Just for You**

Soft cries echo in the distance, a harsh contrast against the screams that had filled the night air only a few hours before.

The boy, one of three hiding safely in a neighbor's basement, wonders just how long it would take before a rescue team could come in and help them. Sora rubs his tiring eyes, wondering just how long it would take before the resurrected came in and ate them all.

He turns away from the small window, taking a peek at the pair sleeping beneath a tarp behind him. Riku and Kairi are sleeping peacefully, barely even stirring at the noises from outside. As he expected, Riku's arm is draped protectively over his friend's body, as if the older teenager was trying – even in his sleep – to protect the girl.

Sora has to turn away quickly and rub his eyes hard. The tears trickle down slowly, the warmth feeling like hot blood on his cold cheeks. It reminds him that it was very likely that the three of them were probably the last living people on the island. His tears also remind him that he had lost his mother.

"Mom..." He whispers softly to the darkness, still feeling the hard push that she had given him in order to get him out the door and into the neighbor's house. Sora closes his eyes and hears her last words again, having heard them on loop throughout the day. His own name, asked questioningly as she was hauled away from him and into the horde.

As for his dad, his dad had been out at sea when everything had happened on the main island. Maybe he was still alive.

"Can't sleep?" A voice asks him quietly, making the fourteen year old flinch and turn around. Kairi smiles at him sleepily, rubbing her eyes as she carefully removes Riku's arm from her shoulder and gets up. "Hey, you don't have-" Sora starts to say, but the girl was already moving, heading toward him.

"I want to, silly." Kairi informs him with that same smile, a ghost of her usual mischievous one. With that, she sits down next to him on the bench beneath the window. Sora keeps looking out the window, watching for any sign of the resurrected shambling toward them. They had already eliminated all of the ones in the house, so unless any new ones walked in, they should be safe...

Kairi's fingers are cold, but a soothing kind of cold, as they slip into his. A deep blush emerges on his face but he keeps guarding. Sora had always had a crush on Kairi, one that had driven him crazy for years. He had dreamed of, _wanted_ a moment like this between them for so long...

Still, the zombies were a surprise.

He leans his head against hers as she snuggles into him, placing her head just on his chest. He blushes that much harder, making her laugh softly as his heart rate speeds up. "Sora?" Kairi asks again, her voice muffled slightly from leaning on him.

"Yeah, Kairi?" He asks before he feels her lean up and her lips on his cheek. If he had thought he was blushing hard before, he was on fire now. Kairi smiles shyly before cuddling back into him. "Maybe we should run away. Just the two of us." She joked solemnly, shaking her head the moment that Sora opens his mouth to protest Riku's absence in her scenario.

Of course she wouldn't leave him behind. The words are left unsaid, but the sentiment was still there.

She smiles at him and nuzzles into him, though it wasn't for warmth. "I don't think I'm so scared anymore." Kairi says in a soft, wistful voice. She flashes a big grin, one that almost rivaled his usual one but made his heart melt into a little puddle of Sora-y goo. "Maybe... You know, I was a little afraid at first, but now I'm ready. No matter where I go or what I see, I know I can always come back here. Right?"

It's clear from the way Kairi is smiling that she doesn't mean back to Destiny Islands.

When he hears those words, Sora wraps his hand around Kairi's and holds it tightly. For the first time, he wishes that he didn't wear gloves everywhere. Though they had saved his life throughout the night, it would have been nice to feel a little more-

A sharp and _very_ loud moan suddenly sounds out near the house, startling the two kids into standing up and peeking through the window. A shuffling noise confirms their suspicions; one of the resurrected ones was standing right by them.

"Go wake Riku," Sora mouths to Kairi as the stench of rotting flesh wafts into the house. After all they had been through, it no longer makes them gag. She nods and quietly walks to the tarp, grabbing the first body part that was sticking out and yanks. Riku jolts up, rubbing his head in mild pain from her grabbing his hair.

After only briefly glancing at the serious expression on his best friend's face, Riku immediately snatches up a sword-like weapon from the folds of his tarp.

Sora and Riku nod to each other before the older boy pulls Kairi behind him and troops silently to the window. He quietly opens the latch of the window, pulling it down just far enough to stick his arm and his Way To Dawn Keyblade out of it.

For a sickening moment, Riku stays completely still as he waits for the zombie to shamble towards him.

If he makes a single noise, the monster would let out a series of low moans that would bring another dozen corpses toward them. And they would all make the moans, calling even more of their undead relatives and friends to devour them.

Riku rapidly slashes the Achilles tendon of the corpse, sending it toppling down to the ground. As it landed with a heavy thud by the window, Sora sees its gray eyes widen and its mouth beginning to open up to scream. Kairi's hand tightens on his wrist as Riku stands back and thrusts the blade into the creature's mouth. With a matter of seconds, the screech that had been building in the dead throat cuts off to a soft gurgling death rattle.

"We can't stay here forever," Riku said softly, turning back to the room to look at his friends. His blue green eyes are full of pain, and Sora knows that he had recognized the body before killing it. Riku runs his hands through his long silver hair and sighs. "We're going... we're going to run out of water soon enough." He stammers weakly.

All three kids know that he had just lied.

But Sora nods instead, reaches out to touch Riku on the shoulder, and smile. "Alright, then let's get out of here. How about we go to the play island?" He asks curiously. His two friends give him a bizarre look, no doubt wondering what the heck Sora was thinking.

He laughs quietly, amused by their reactions. "Well, think about it. There's water there in the springs, we can catch fish, and it's separated from this island by at least three or four miles, right? So it should be a good place to hide for a bit!" Sora explains cheerfully. In reality, he wants to check if the three kids that normally hung out at the islands Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka were still alright. If it had spread that far... then they wouldn't be able to get off the islands at all.

They would be trapped there on the main island.

Riku claps his hand onto Sora's shoulder and nods. "For once, I agree with your plans," He tells his friend with a slight hint of a smile. "Let's get to the docks and head off. … We're going to have to hurry though." He looks back out the window, a strange anger appearing on his face.

"Huh?" Sora asks in confusion. "Why?"

Kairi shakes her head and slips her hand back around Sora's. The movement is not unnoticed by Riku, who immediately blinks and stares hard at their intertwined hands. "Riku means," Kairi scolds patiently, ignoring the looks from the boys. "-is that these things see better in the daylight, just like we do. And there's tons of them by the docks. We... might not make it." She added with a worried quiver to her voice, making both boys want to comfort her.

Both Riku and Sora want to be comforted as well, though both of their parents are long gone.

Sora grins, though he feels like he should break down and start bawling on the floor for seeing his family being torn away from him. "Then we head out at dawn. Get everything ready and set for the boat," He says calmly, though he's shaking slightly.

Riku nods. "We're leaving this place." He repeats calmly before obediently dropping down to the floor and wrapping their few belongings into the tarp.

A few hours later, two of the three are sitting the boat as it is being carried off in the current.

* * *

Kairi screams to the boy standing on the dock even as Riku holds her back, preventing her from getting out. Sora watches as the boat drifts away, the rope that had been tying it to the dock still clenched tightly in his hand. He had made his choice, he had made it as soon as he realized that the monsters were about to move for them.

It had been easy to throw them both into the boat and shove it from the dock, even though Sora knows that it meant he was about to die. Sora drops the rope and looks at his best friends, knowing that this is the very last time he was ever going to see them.

"Kairi!" Sora shouts as the first rotting grips onto his shoulder. "Kairi! Remember what you said before? I'm always with you, too. I'll come back to you. I promise!" He yells out as the first set of teeth pierces through his skin, leaving him free to scream and be yanked into the crowd.

"Sora...!" Riku shouts as the first of the monsters tears into his friend's throat and infects him with the virus. The boy immediately rips himself free from the creatures and runs toward the end of the dock, beginning to wave at the boat.

Even from this distance, the two kids could see the tears pouring down his face.

Kairi stands up in the boat, forcing herself to wave just as hard back at Sora as he ran from the monsters. "I know you will!" She screams back, though she doesn't hear herself say it. A few seconds later, Sora jumps into the sea and vanishes from sight.

Riku hauls her back into a sitting position, throwing himself over her when she immediately tries to jump out of the boat to join him. He rocks her gently, soothing her as she sobs into his shoulder and whispers the same words over and over like a broken record.

"I know you will, I know you will..."

The older boy doesn't let his own tears fall, he only pins the grieving girl down with a hand and removes their food from the tarp. When he opens up the package, he notices one of them was completely unopened, though they had all eaten most of it last night. Riku opens it up to see a rapidly written note from the boy who had refused to eat in order to give them that much more of a chance.

_'Take care of her for me, will you?'_

* * *

**I'm sorry. But come on, it makes sense! Sora was a cannibal in the other chapter so... zombies. They both... eat people... Yeah, that doesn't make as much sense as I thought. I just like zombies. Anyway, thank you for reading the last of the Heavenly chapters! Please stay tuned for the four bonus chapters!**

**-ForbiddenKHFan216**_  
_


	15. Bonus Chapter: Love - Hell Hath No Fury

**So I was thinking while I was at work doing mindless drone-like things (I hate my job), "Why on earth have I not done something with the Birth By Sleep characters?" So uh... this is what's going to be happening. The next two chapters aren't exactly about a 'sin' per-say, more like an observation... What is the most powerful emotion in the human repertoire of feelings? Love, of course. Who is the most loving character in this game series? Well... we're going to explore exactly how far she'll go for her love...**

* * *

Bonus Chapters

**Love: Hell Hath No Fury**

She could still hear them.

Aqua raised her head to look beside her, looking for the pair of voices that haunted her every waking moment. As always, she was completely alone. But she always checked for them, like she always checked to see if her Keyblade had come back.

Her eyes closed after she had checked to see if her friends had come back. Aqua knew she was alone and would always be alone. It was the one thing she hated about being trapped in this dark world.

_'Aqua...!'_

Ven's voice was still as panicked and afraid as the last time she had heard him and as she sat there beside her small campfire, she could feel the freezing cold of his ice-covered body in her arms. She knew that she had failed him somehow, though she had done absolutely everything in her power to save him.

The fire crackled loudly, startling the girl out of her memories as the hand wrapped around her shoulder. "Are you thinking about me?" The boy asked curiously as his nails pierced deeply into her flesh.

"No, Vanitas," Aqua replied dutifully, too used to his random appearing to be surprised by them any longer. "I was thinking about Ven."

The boy scowled. "I told you to stop thinking about that loser," Vanitas snarled as he dropped his hand and sat down by the fire. His golden eyes reflected angrily off of the red flames. "You're never going to go back to him or that fool Terra."

Aqua pulled a few branches off of the pile next to her and dumped them into the flames. "I know," She said softly as the fire briefly turned a bright shade of green from the salt in the driftwood. "I'm trapped here."

Vanitas nodded in agreement and continued to watch the flames. "Did you sleep?" He asked after a moment, though it was clear from the way he asked it that he didn't actually care. Aqua and Vanitas knew that they were both lonely and afraid to be alone in the dark world that they had been banished to.

Either way, there was a reason why Vanitas had remained alive; he had wanted to torment Aqua just a little further.

The girl shook her head slowly and looked deeper into the flames.

Vanitas reached over the flames, grasped Aqua's chin, and forced her to look at him. She pulled away from him only to have him hold his hand out to the side. Aqua winced; so it was going to be one of _those_ days.

As fast as she could, Aqua grabbed a handful of black sand from where she was sitting and hauled herself to her feet, immediately bolting for the nearest large rock she could see. Vanitas laughed behind her, a high creepy laugh that no real human being should be able to make normally.

Her shoes pounded hard against the compacted grit of the beach, though Aqua knew she had no chance against a Keyblade wielder without her Rainfell. She was a full Keyblade Master but she had nothing, she was nothing, she would never be anything again until she got the Keyblade back. Tears trickled down her cheeks unnoticed, too focused she was on getting to the rock.

Vanitas had always liked games and so he had turned her torture into one: if Aqua could make it to one of the rocks in time, he wouldn't hurt her and would instead ask for a story about Ven.

A soft shriek escaped Aqua's lips as Vanitas tackled her to the ground, pinning her underneath him with his arm around her throat. The teenagers struggled for a few moments before Aqua fell limp.

As she lay there, she could hear the boy's soft panting in her ear and the hysterical giggles that Vanitas was trying to surpress. One of his hands caressed the side of her face, lifting it slightly toward him.

"This is your fault," He whispered quietly. "All your fault, Aqua." His nails scratched deep into her skin, leaving streaks of red across her pale cheeks. "Why didn't you stop Terra from leaving? Why didn't you stop Ven from going after Terra?" Something in his voice suddenly ran cold and Aqua suddenly feels her upper half get yanked hard toward him, her body bending nearly in half. "Why didn't you stop _me killing us both_?" Vanitas demanded as his second hand suddenly grabbed her chest, squeezing hard.

Aqua screamed as loud as she could but no one could hear her. No one could hear her except Vanitas. He smiled at the screams but that only made him squeeze harder, scratch deeper into her face. Blood trickled down on her cheeks like tears, warming his palms.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Ven, Terra!" The girl whimpered as the boy's face moved toward her own. He laughed softly into her ear as she cried for her friends. Her body shook violently underneath him, though they had done this a thousand times in the days they had been trapped together. She was still afraid and somehow, had lost the will to fight completely against the Darkness.

It was as if she felt like she deserved the treatment.

"No," Vanitas told her softly as his fingernails moved toward her eye, circled it in a loving way. "You are _going_ to be sorry, Aqua. I can promise you that." He said, a wolfish grin suddenly appearing on his pale lips. A rare light in his golden eyes began to dance as his fingers caressed her blue eyes.

Aqua's eyes widen as the pain began and her screams began anew in the dark world where no one else could hear them.


	16. Bonus Chapter:Love- Like A Woman Scorned

Bonus Chapters

**Love: Like A Woman Scorned**

_It's all your fault, it's all your fault...! They're dead because of you...! This is all your fault...! You loved them but you couldn't save them...! THIS IS YOUR FAULT...! YOU DESERVE THIS! _

She lay there in the dark sand, feeling the black water wash over her battered body like a soothing balm. The salty water felt good against her tired body, though it made her injuries burn like fire. The words swimming around in her head hurt more, though, Vanitas' words feel so much more painful than the handful of injuries she had.

Aqua lifted her eyes to the sky, thinking hard about the friends she had left behind. She was in this hell because she had loved them so much, but she couldn't bring herself to hate them now. They were nowhere to be found, had left her trapped and tortured by a psychopath, but she still didn't hate them for it. She still loved them with everything she had; she had no regrets over what she had done. The only thing she regretted was not being able to save them, not being able to give them that much more of a chance.

A small smile flitted across her lips as her eyes scanned the clouds, looking for a sun that would never appear in this sky.

She hadn't seen the sun in what felt like ten years.

As she lay there for hours, recovering from her injuries, she became aware of a soft noise coming her way. Sound traveled extremely far in this strange world and the _crunch crunch __**crunch**_ noise came from somewhere ahead of her. Aqua wondered what the noise was; it almost sounded like footsteps. But that couldn't be. There was no one in this world except her and Vanitas, and he never made a sound. He was too sneaky for that.

Aqua had no idea who it could be, until he called out to her.

"Miss? Are you well?" The voice asks curiously. Aqua doesn't move but notes that the man's voice was deep and friendly, even very intelligent and wise. She just closes her eyes against the nonexistent glare of a nonexistent sun and waits for the man to come to her.

After a few moments, she feels her head lifted up and she opens her eyes to see a pair of orange irises examining her closely. "You're injured?" The old man asks curiously as he looks over the cuts and bruises on her face. Aqua just nods once before allowing him to drag her out of the surf and onto dryer land.

He quickly places her down onto a flatter part of the beach and bows respectfully toward her. From the way he did it, she could tell that he was apologizing for moving her, probably because she was so young and so very female compared to the older gentleman. Aqua just waves off the apology and allows her new companion to examine her a little more closely.

She feels happy. She wasn't alone anymore. She could finally escape from Vanitas. Vanitas could never touch her again, not as long as this nice man was here with her. Tears trickle down her face and she feels herself falling back into sleep, soothed by his comforting presence.

DiZ picks up her hand and examines beneath the nails carefully. There was blood deep beneath the girl's nails, as if she had scratched something as hard as she possibly could. He looks at the cuts on her face and arms, which mimicked an attack on someone.

Just how long had this girl been alone? Just what had caused her to hurt herself so badly? She had been alone for so long... He looks at the many tiny scars on her arms, the remnants of her nails scraping against her flesh. What had caused her to hurt herself?

"Terra... Ven..." The girl murmurs softly and the old man sees a few tears trickle down her battered cheeks as she sleeps.

* * *

**So... if anyone's confused on why I picked "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" as the title of these two chapters, it's easy enough to explain. Aqua has been alone all these years and so she has picked a very easy to blame target to fuel her rage into: herself. She loves her friends and now that she's been denied them, she's the "scorned" woman and has taken to blaming Vanitas - a figment of her imagination - for her injuries, even though she's the one whose been tormenting herself all along. **


	17. Chapter 17: Catharsis - Promises

**I love how this is supposed to be Terra's chapter but he's not in it.**

**TAKE THAT, TERRA! :D **

**In all seriousness though, one of the sins chapters just really stuck with me. I might continue it.**

* * *

Bonus Chapter

**Catharsis: Promises**

The boat rocked heavily as the dancers moved and writhed on the impromptu dance floor, making the young captain wonder if they could make the boat sink.

Twenty year old Sora took a swig out of the bottle in front of him, smiling as the kids waved at him and kept on dancing. Fueled by the sugary cordial that had been passed out, the youngest members of his crew could go all night without passing out from exhaustion. The older members, himself included, could only watch and laugh as they partied.

As goodbyes went, this one wasn't too bad.

Sora set the bottle down in front of him before turning to a few of the kids that didn't like to dance, giving them a cocky wink as they helped themselves to the brownies that someone had baked for him.

"So," The girl in black commented in amusement as she shoved a third brownie into her mouth. "You really think there's an island near here?"

Sora nodded again for the fifth time and her friend groaned. "Maria... he said that he could remember the island and it's one of the only things he remembers since the accident. Why don't you give him the benefit of the doubt?" He asked curiously before pulling the tin away from her.

Deprived of her sweets, she simply sighed and shrugged. "Because we all know what he's looking for, Jonathan," Maria said calmly before dropping her hand to the sword on her waist. A sad expression appeared in her eyes as she fingered the charm around the katana and she held up the two feathers in emphasis. "Sora here is looking for his _lady love_, not new crew members."

Sora frowned for a moment before laughing. "So _you're_ the one who's been spreading that rumor!" He cried out in laughter, shaking his head at her. He moved his chair a little closer to the kids as the girl blushed and shook her head back, startled by the accusation. "Trust me, I just need to check out the island. If there's anyone there, I'm going to try to convince them to come join us." He explained calmly, though from the scowl on the girl's face, it was clear that she thought she was being scolded.

"And if not," A voice declared loudly as a fourth chair was brought up to the small table. "Sora's going to get us as many supplies as he, Donald, and Goofy can carry in that dinky life boat of his." Sora turned just in time to witness a hand being shoved onto his head and his hair rubbed hard into an even worse spiky mess.

"Leon!" He complained though the older man did nothing but laugh and sit down. Since they had rescued his girlfriend a few years ago, Squall Leonhart definitely had mellowed out. He no longer resembled the cruel taskmaster that they had been forced to grow up with. Sora scowled at him before taking another swig of his bottle. "And it's not a life boat, it's a perfectly good sized small boat."

"Uh huh, and we normally use it when one of our boats gets messed up or sinks, Sora." Leon teased before straightening up and looking hard at the two kids. Maria and Jonathan turned pale as he eyed them carefully. "Aren't you two supposed to be serving the food on deck?" He demanded.

"Uh..." Maria said weakly.

"We... wanted to talk to the captain before he left?" Jonathan questioned before shrugging sheepishly.

Leon was unamused. "Get back to work you two, before Maria here gets seasick." He commanded and the kids immediately jumped up and ran. Before they climbed the ladder that led up to the deck, Maria took the time to stick her middle finger down at Leon before she was hauled up by Jonathan.

Sora laughed.

"This is why you're a horrible father," Leon told him as he shook his head angrily. Once, he would have charged after her and demanded a whooping for the disrespect. "So... you're really not going after your 'lady love', as everyone calls her." He questioned curiously.

The captain shook his head once before offering the cordial to his mentor. Leon nodded and took the bottle, drinking it as his student explained.

"It's just... well, I remember this island. I know I don't remember much of before the accident," Sora said honestly. As he spoke, his hand unconsciously went to his shoulder and to the place where the deep teeth marks had left their scars on his body. "I can't even remember the girl I made that promise to. But... I have a feeling that there's something on that island. I remember lots of fruit trees and a spring; maybe there's something we can use there."

Leon nodded. "Well, even if there's no people there anymore, Sora... The crew should be pretty happy getting ashore. Well over a hundred people get pretty restless when they're in each other's faces all the time." He chuckled before handing the bottle back. "It's not every twenty year old that's a captain of an entire fleet of mercenaries."

Sora blushed hard at the compliment. "It wasn't exactly my choice when we voted for captain and I wasn't the one who built the boats," He mumbled shyly, referring to their shipwright Cid Highwind that had built the fifty or so boats they were all crew members of.

"But you're the one who leads us," Leon said in a voice that told Sora that he'd better not argue this, or the gunblade user would remind him just how vicious of a trainer he was. And make him drop fifty during his own party. "And we couldn't do any of this without you."

* * *

Sora blinked sleepily into the sunshine as a hand shook his shoulder roughly. "Sora! Get rid of it!" Donald shouted loudly into his ear. The boat rocked furiously with the motion of the duck as he tried to get away from something, to the point where he jumped into Sora's lap and bounced off to the farther side of the boat.

Rubbing his aching stomach, Sora got up to see exactly what was freaking out his wizard so much. The creature growled at him, gnashing its teeth as its decaying flesh tried to climb into the boat. He sighed. "I hate zombies. I especially hate them in the _morning_." He declared moodily as he picked up his Keyblade and gave the zombie a good hard smack between the eyes.

Immediately, the flesh crumbled beneath the Keyblade and it gave the monster just enough of a push to tumble back into the water and into the sea. Sora eyed his handiwork for a moment before turning to his two friends.

"Gawsh, _I_ coulda done that," Goofy said with a laugh. He opened up a backpack that was by his feet, pulled out a wrapped food bag, and handed it over to Sora. Sora nodded his thanks before sitting back down and starting to open his breakfast.

Donald grumbled in annoyance. "Why didn't you kill it and save us the trouble?" He demanded, obviously embarrassed that he had shown that he was still terrified of the zombies.

Sora paused in the middle of unwrapping before grinning. "I don't want zombie juice everywhere. We might get sick."

The two laughed before returning to their respective jobs: Goofy kept unwrapping a food packet for Donald and Donald kept staring into the spot where Sora had knocked the zombie into the ocean.

"You said it would be three days to get there, right?" Goofy asked as he tossed a bag to the unsuspecting Donald. With a loud quack, the magician's head snapped back with the weight of the sandwiches. Sora looked up just in time to see Donald jump into Goofy's lap and start choking him, babbling incoherent insults and threats all the while.

"Yup, three days from our last position," Sora agreed before grabbing Donald and hauling him right off of Goofy, giving the writhing duck a good hard shake for good measure. Donald immediately started calming down, though he kept muttering darkly at their friend. "Though I could have been wrong. It's been a while since I've been there... if I've ever been there at all." Sora added softly.

The two crewmembers flinched at the casual mention of Sora's amnesia. In unison, they both look at his shoulder, which was covered by the long-sleeved armored shirt he always wore. When their captain was fourteen, he was found delirious and half-dead in the ocean by a passing ship. Upon retrieving him, it was discovered that not only had he survived an undead bite for over a week, but that he was only weak from hunger and thirst.

Leon had been quick to recruit him, but any information that they tried to get out of the young Sora about where he had come from was basically meaningless. He couldn't remember anything, save the meaning of a star-shaped charm he always carried in his pocket and a few other random trivia from his old life. From the materials that the charm had been made of, it was determined that he had once lived on an island.

He couldn't remember much of it. A high fever, the fever that normally killed people and brought them back from the dead as shambling corpses, had wiped his memory completely. The only thing Sora could remember clearly was the zombie's bite, the laughter of one of his friends, and a promise he had made to a girl right before he jumped into the ocean to die in peace. It was a promise that he had been struggling to keep for the last six years. Within those six years he had become a master swordsman and magician, all for the sake of the girl and the friend he couldn't remember.

But all the training and skills he had learned could never bring his memories back.

Sora grinned as they stared at him before tugging his jacket over the old scar, unconsciously self-aware of it. "Come on, guys, let's just keep rowing. It's my turn and Donald's, right?" He asked curiously, tilting his head to the side at them.

Donald and Goofy snapped out of it and looked at each other before shaking their heads. They grabbed the two oars and Goofy made a gesture for Sora to lie down. "Aw, we've got this, cap'n! Don'tcha worry about it." The kind dog said, a gesture that the twenty year old took to mean that he missed his son Max and was babying Sora to make up for it.

Sora couldn't see anything wrong with the argument so he just flopped back down on the water bag he had been using as a pillow and stared up at the sky. The sky was clear, as usual when they sailed in this part of the worlds, but the sun wasn't too high yet. Early morning. The captain yawned sleepily for a moment before putting his hand to the water.

Since he was at the back of the boat, this was going to be relatively easy.

"Aeroga!" Sora shouted, giving Donald and Goofy just enough warning to snatch up the oars from the water and grip the sides of the boat.

"SORA!" Donald screamed as the boat suddenly shook hard and sailed forward from the force of the wind that had just materialized in Sora's hands. Like a stone skipped across a still lake, the boat jumped through the water and sent up a heavy spray of white water into their faces.

Unable to stop laughing, Sora could only watch as the boat's momentum continued to speed up and Donald got increasingly angry. "We told Leon that we wouldn't use magic to power the boat!" The duck screamed in his terror-fueled rage even as Sora slapped the sides of the boat to knock off any daring zombies.

"Gawsh, Sora, thank you!" Goofy said in a pleased voice as he sat back and relaxed. The dog shook his head as the spray splashed over his face, obviously being cooled down by the water. "I always hated rowin'." He laughed, being positive as usual.

Donald grumbled softly and folded his wings into his chest, obviously going into a pout.

"Least let me do the next one," The duck mumbled darkly, though his face was straight up murderous as he turned to face Sora. "It tires you out and you know it! We need you at full strength!"

The captain nodded, recognizing the sulkiness as another way of babying him. Despite being an adult, these two had been his protectors and guardians for the last six years. The saying was that old habits died hard, especially in their cases.

Sora just sat back again, looking off into the distance. Without even knowing it, his hand slipped into his pocket to touch a familiar, worn-out charm.

_'Will I find you...? Or is this all... just a dream?' _

He closed his eyes and wrapped his hand around the charm completely.

_'Please... let me line the pieces up... yours... and mine.'_

* * *

The island slowly grew into being, growing from a small dot in the horizon.

Sora couldn't stop watching. Even from the deepest part of his memory, he could recognize the place. He looked at the palm trees lining the beach and knew that he had sat underneath them, probably either sleeping or pulling down fruit to eat. He could practically feel the sand beneath his feet.

His body kept shaking as he recognized things, though he had no real memories of them. Donald and Goofy looked over at him just as the tears began to spill. He could see himself, the fourteen year old version of himself, standing on that shore and playing with the friends he couldn't remember.

"Sora... You okay?" Goofy asked quietly and the dog placed a hand onto his shoulder. Sora just nodded, unable to speak. They just sat there in the boat, refusing to speak until the dingy bobbed toward the dipilated dock. The moment that Donald jumped out of the boat and tied it up, the captain spoke.

"I don't know if anyone's left alive."

Goofy and Donald flinched hard, no doubt remembering the situation that had happened back in their own town. It had been difficult to get out, let alone save anyone. Many of their friends had paid the price. Their heads lifted up and they scanned the town, searching for any sign of movement.

But there were none.

Sora slowly lifted himself from the boat, crawled onto the deck, and then stood up on his island for the first time in six years. He could barely see because of the number of tears flowing from his eyes. He was finally home, he was finally going to see his friends, he was finally going to keep his promises to both of them.

The twenty year old captain quickly walked off of the dock, closely tailed by his first and second mates. As they walked down the street, a number of familiar things kept popping out at Sora, making him turn to them and say a random thing he thought he had done there.

"Think I used to go to that barber shop?" He asked curiously when he noticed the blue, red, and white striped pole hanging crookedly outside of one of the stores. Donald looked up at him, looked at the shop, and chuckled softly to himself. "Sora, you need to go in then; you could use a trim." The duck joked before ducking a sideways smack to his feathered head.

Goofy smiled at their antics before he lifted his shield up onto his shoulder and kept walking for a minute longer. It was a minute in which Sora and Donald had one of their usual bickering, where Sora whined and Donald did his best to superimpose the fact that he'd been a sailor much longer than the captain had even been alive. Goofy wandered ahead a little bit, humming to himself in amusement before stopping dead in his tracks.

His eyes widened in horror as he noticed the creature beginning to stumble out of one of the stores. The moment that it turned its head and looked at him, the zombie threw its head back and shrieked as loudly as it possibly could with its decaying vocal cords.

Goofy and Donald slammed their hands onto their ears, even as Sora rushed forward at it. The Keyblade crunched flesh and the monster's cries quickly became silence as Sora ripped it apart with a few quick strokes. It was only when he had finished crushing the mouth and throat that the captain delivered the killing blow and punched a way through its skull.

When it dropped to the ground, Donald and Goofy watched as Sora's eyes filled once more with tears. His entire body began to shake, simply because he knew what the appearance of just one zombie meant. If there was just one zombie on his home wandering around like this had been, then there were another couple hundred doing exactly the same thing.

There wasn't a single living person left here. This particular island was way too small to support a population of wanderers along with a population of living people that hid from them.

"Gawrsh..." Goofy muttered softly to himself before moving forward to put his hand onto Sora's shoulder. Sora said nothing but lifted the Keyblade to his face, a gesture he hadn't done since he was fourteen and Leon had fished him out of the ocean half-dead. "I'm sorry, Sora." Goofy said as Sora brushed the dog's hand off of him.

"Don't get in my way," was all that the captain said before he turned to face them. The rage and grief was the only thing that the two friends had time to register before Sora walked past them, headed right for the center of town.

"Sora!" Donald and Goofy cried out, but the man's only response was to turn the Keyblade in his hand so that the head of the key was facing them.

As he walked, the tears trickled down his face. The moment he was standing in front of a large number of buildings in what looked like the town square, Sora stopped. He had no memories of this place, but he knew that he had been there. He focused on a small stand that had long since collapsed into ruin, knowing that he had bought something from that stand. The owner had been kind to him, probably a relative or something.

He threw his head back and screamed at the top of his lungs.

Sora grinned viciously as the cries of hundreds of zombies echoed him and he started laughing when the first of them stumbled towards him. He just raised his Keyblade and charged at it, hacking the thing apart in a few strokes. When he ripped the head off, he saw for the first time that it had once been a little girl.

Memories of a smile and a shock of red hair flooded his mind, bringing fresh tears. He could almost taste her name on his tongue, hear her voice in his head. He threw the still chopping head onto the floor and crushed it beneath his boot. The hysterical laughter was still coming out of him, though Sora didn't know it was him.

More zombies crawled, shuffled, and ran at him, only to be met with a second death as the grieving captain tore them apart. Blood red flames trickled down his hands as he fought, though he didn't notice it. The hoard charged at him but he burned the rotting bodies apart and crushed their skulls beneath his feet.

Sora smiled but he was already starting to feel better.

* * *

"Terra! Heads up!"

The man looked up from the map in his lap only to see a log fly at him from just above him. Biting back a curse, the old Keyblade wielder rolls out of the way and slices up with a charged red blade of light, incinerating the wood while also splitting it in two perfect halves.

He glared up at the woman leaning over the railing. "Kairi...!" Terra growled out angrily but the red head immediately ducked out of sight. But he could still hear her startled laughter. He turned to look at his student, but the look on Riku's face was enough to tell him that the assault had totally been planned.

Without even noticing it, Terra smiled at the two, if only because they were finally beginning to cheer up. Six years had passed slowly for them... but it seems like they were finally letting go of their old friend.

If only they could find some catharsis, a way to let go completely of the friend they had lost.


	18. Chapter 18: Judgement – In A Hurricane

**Alright, Sora, now I'm mad at you. I think this ended up happening because I just tormented the little guy in the sin chapters. Seriously, nearly _everyone_ had a crack at him in those! XD**

**For whatever reason, the zombies just really wanted to hang around. So because of this, I'll let you guys, the readers, decide if this story should go any further. If you'd like to read more about these KH zombies, then just say so in a review or hit me up for a private message. If I get enough people to say they wanna read it, then I'll release a ten chapter story about these zombies, including the fragments I included in this anthology of stories. **

**If not, then I ask you to say so. Anyway, please read and review. I'll also be making a second anthology of stories, this time with Disney villains rather than sins. Please stay tuned if you liked this story!**

**Sincerely, **

**Forbidden**

* * *

Bonus Chapter

**Judgement – In A Hurricane**

_Alternate Title: Closure_

A woman's voice, soft and sweet as he ran towards it, seeking the sweet rain that it would provide -

"_Ven-!"_

A man's voice, deep and sorrowful as he charged towards it, running for the solid earth that would protect him -

"_No-! I will not let you touch Ven-!" _

No matter what he did, no matter how many times his hand reached out, their shapes always remained just out of his reach. He could never touch them and they never turned around, leaving him trapped in this darkness alone and afraid.

He had begged Gods, other deities, even just spirits to let him wake up. But they did not listen and they remained silent as he wandered in his dreams, unable to awaken.

Sometimes, when he slept, he could see things. Not ordinary dreams but memories, memories of people who he didn't know. He saw a great adventure, the footsteps of another boy as they led him far away from home.

He wanted to talk to this other boy, to warn him of how easily home was taken away. He would become angry because of all the risks this child took because he had lost everything, everything that was ever precious to him had slipped through his grasp like water through his fingers. Yet this boy was not willing to go on his adventure but that he eagerly sought it out.

He couldn't understand why then, but sometimes, he wished he was that other boy. Maybe because it would be easier to be able to smile in that way or that he would be able to move or maybe even because he secretly longed to go on another adventure.

He waited then, for the day that this boy would wake him up from his dreams.

* * *

Ven glanced down at the small radio in his lap, waiting patiently for a signal that would let him talk to their missing crew members. It had been over three days and the Keyblade wielder had volunteered himself for the mission to go find them.

Now if only his stupid radio would work.

A harsh crackle of static was his only answer so Ven just tossed the thrice damned thing back into its protect plastic and leaned back in his rowboat. He stared at the beautiful blue sky, his eyes remaining fixated on the soft wisps of white above as he wondered.

Where was his captain? Where were the first and second mates? Would they be okay? Had something happened to them? His hands tightened on the oars as he rowed unconsciously, due to his fear for the young captain and his friends. He could see Sora's big, goofy smile even as he rowed there in his boat and he feared for its loss. Who else could be their captain if something happened to their Keyblade master?

What could he tell the crew if their captain was dead?

The young man looked down as the smallest speck of black began to appear in the distance. Having been at sea for three years, even Ventus realized that it meant land. He pulled out a small map of the ocean that Leon had given him, though he knew it was close to useless since they hadn't ever mapped this part of the ocean. Sure enough, he could see Sora's chickenscratch writing circling a large part of the ocean with the caption: 'Possible island here,' on it.

So he was close.

Ven pulled the oars out of the water, ignoring the cold drips of water as he tucked them in neatly with the rest of his gear. He plopped his hand down into the ocean, felt the salt dissolving in his fingers, and then he waited.

He could feel it inside of him, the wind swirling in his lungs and in his bloodstreams. The raw power within him called to him, begged to be released and to do his bidding in this monstrous world of zombies and killers.

"Aeroga!"

The wind exploded out of his outstretched palms, the result of his overpowered magic. As Sora was excellent at fire magic, so was Ven with the wind and the wind shot the boat forward like a cork bouncing out of a shaken bottle.

As he bounced, Ven clung to the sides of the boat and prayed to the gods he wasn't sure could hear him and asked for the safe return of his beloved student and his friends.

_'Let me get there in time... Aqua... Terra...'_

* * *

The small figure was covered in gore. There was rotting blood all over his clothes, obscuring any original color that they might have had. There were bits of flesh dotting his body, even in his slicked back hair. Even his hair was weighed down with the amount of gore that he had all over his body. He could see no recognizable features on this man, save the miserable pair of sharp blue eyes that were the only body part not covered in blood.

Ven stopped in the middle of the street and summoned his Wayward Wind keyblade in a flash of white light. The figure looked at him briefly and a strange smile appeared on his face, contorting it with a strange emotion of grief and rage. After a few seconds of staring each other down, the man turned away and continued to walk down the street, away from Ven.

He could only stare as the young man wandered off in a daze, and he wasn't sure if the man was a zombie or not.

"Master Ventus...!" A low whisper hissed out at him and Ven turned to the familiar voice eagerly. "Master Ventus...!" Goofy said insistently, his voice worried and afraid.

"Goofy, be quiet! There might be more of them! And you don't even know if that's Ven or not!" Donald snapped next. Ven could only lean back and smile at their antics.

He should have figured that they would be alright.

"Gawrsh, Donald, don'tcha think we oughta warn him about the cap'n? He hasn't stopped for days now." Goofy persisted, his voice rising slightly above Ven's head. Ven glanced up and saw the two barely hidden behind a windowsill.

He lifted a hand to greet them, only to see Donald glare at him suspciously for a moment. Ven sighed and wiggled his fingers. A small tendril of wind curled up in between his fingers and into his palm. He concentrated hard on it, forcing it to churn and spin around his hands. It soon became visible as a whitish-blue haze around his knuckles.

"Ventus!" Donald immediately cried out, only to slap himself on the beak from trying to keep himself quiet. Ven smiled up at him but turns back to the street, looking down to the ground thoughtfully. Sure enough, there were bloody footprints all over the streets with the zombie parts.

So that man had been Sora...

The Keyblade wielder hoisted his Keyblade onto his shoulder and walked down the street after his student. It was easy enough; all Ven had to do was follow the trail of blood and body parts Sora was leaving behind.

The main street was long, long enough for Ven to get winded though he didn't stop to rest. He only ever stopped in order to destroy one of the zombie heads that Sora hadn't eliminated completely. They would snap and try to bite his ankles, so Ven would repay them with wind and then a good hard smack with the Wayward Wind that cut them in half.

"Only way to kill them is to cut their heads apart... destroy the brain..." Ven muttered softly to himself as he followed back onto the trail of his only student. It was the only way to kill them and now Sora was doing exactly that, but why? There was a strange look on his face as he ran away but Ven couldn't figure it out.

Ven stopped in mid-step as he saw his student collapse to his knees. Sora gasped for breath but he still held out his Keyblade and he ripped through the legs of the zombie that was trying to eat him. Even from his distance, Ven could see the captain was absolutely exhausted. The blood covering him prevented any identification of injuries but it was clear from how Sora staggered back to his feet and then slammed his Keyblade into the monster's head that he was actually injured and very badly by the look of it.

The minute that the monster was killed and its moans silenced, Sora dropped back to his knees and struggled to breathe. "Sora!" His master cried out and he quickly ran to his side. The man didn't register him when Ven placed his hand onto his shoulder. He didn't even react. But his mouth was moving and air was coming out weakly, so Ven placed his ear to Sora's lips.

"Dead... all... dead..." Sora wheezed quietly and now Ven could see the tears trickling out of his dark blue eyes. They trailed down his face, turning the blood pink and then washing it off in long streaks. The skin was pale beneath the tears. "Dead... all my friends... my mom... my dad... all... gone..."

Ven placed his hand onto Sora's chest and cast a curing spell, but Sora's eyes closed anyway. The young man simply collapsed onto his teacher's chest and passed out, unable to stay conscious any longer.

"Sora..." Ven said softly as the captain continued to cry in his sleep.

* * *

Having finally brought him to the edge of the beach, Ven began removing his clothes.

Sora remained unconscious, though his face constantly twitched and contorted. Probably an effect of staying awake for three days straight. Ven wouldn't have known and Donald wasn't too clear on how Sora had remained up. It was a pity that Aerith wasn't with them, she would have known.

Ven's fingers paused on his captain's zipper for a moment as he looked at his sleeping face. Though Sora was perfectly calm and probably wouldn't have cared if someone undressed him in order to treat his injuries, Ven felt like a pervert.

"... Could... could one of you do this?" He asked Donald and Goofy who immediately look at each other and laugh. "Gawsh, I keep forgettin' how many times we've had to do this." Goofy comments in amusement, nodding as he dropped down to his knees and started pulling off Sora's jewelry.

Donald nodded. "Sora always takes care of those first, he says they're more important than his clothes," The duck added before laughing. "At this rate, we're gonna have to make Sora fight in his underwear, since he messes up his clothes so much!"

Despite the joking way that the duck and the dog were treating the affair, Ven noticed that Goofy's fingers were shaking hard as he removed the crown-shaped necklace from around Sora's neck. The man moaned softly in his sleep which made the shaking even worse.

As Goofy removed the rings on Sora's left hand, Ven turned to Donald who looked like he was about to faint, despite the smile on his face. "He might have gotten bitten," Ven explained softly and Donald nodded. When the duck turned away to look at the other side of the beach, he knew that Donald was hiding tears.

Goofy stayed quiet and Ven knew that he was thinking of his son Max.

Max, along with the Queen and Donald's family, had either been taken by the zombies or had died of starvation back in their hometown. The only information that either of them had ever given about what had happened was that they only had enough time to get them into a boat and send them off into the ocean, where they could hopefully get help. It had been six years since then.

They hadn't heard from them since.

Sadly, it was a story that was repeated all over the fifty ships in their fleet, where many of the people who lived on their boats were the only survivors of their homes. Each ship, because of this, had become a floating version of the world that the captain of the ship had left behind.

Donald and Goofy and their King, Mickey, had no such ship because they were the only ones left.

Goofy quietly pulled the last of the jewelry from Sora's body and then reached into his pocket to pull out a small star-shaped charm. He turned to the surf and dunked it quickly into the water, cleaning it carefully with his sleeve. Sora breathed a little more easily and so the dog relaxed.

Donald waddled over to the sleeping captain and started removing the man's clothes, barely even noticing where he threw them. Ven jumped back to avoid them as clothes flew everywhere, landing in the water, the sand, and even Sora's shorts ended up in a tree. When Sora was just in his boxers, Donald grabbed him by the hair and tossed him into the sea.

The shock of the cold water was enough to snap Sora back into consciousness for a moment, when the young man clawed at the air in order to try to get up. Donald quickly wrapped a rope around the captain's waist in order to keep him from floating off and then sat back down to wait for the blood to clean off. Sora floated limply, having fallen back asleep.

"... Why didn't you guys call if it was this bad?" Ven asked quietly. Donald and Goofy turned to look at him, though they kept half an eye on Sora's floating form. "We could have stopped him before he got to this state, me and Leon."

Donald scratched his cheek before shaking his head. "Radio didn' work." Goofy clarified when Donald grunted angrily. "We must've gotten a broken one." Donald added with a scowl.

Ven leaned back and thought about it. "If it was the one with a big gear on it, then yeah, you guys got the broken one. Cid marked it so that he could fix it later." Donald immediately turned red and Goofy grinned a little bit, only to be smacked in the head by a white wing.

They sat there in the surf for a little while longer, waiting to see how badly Sora had hurt himself. They all knew that it was grief that had fueled his rage and so they let him sleep, though they were on constant guard in case Sora's head ducked under the water with a stray wave.

"Ya know, there's another island near here," Goofy said after a while.

"Huh?" Donald and Ven said in unison. They turned to look at each other, obviously startled that they both didn't know. Donald especially should have known, considering that he had been on the island with Goofy and Sora for the last three days.

Goofy grinned. "There's another island, I saw it yesterday and the day before that!" He said again. He got to his knees and then placed Sora's charm on the sand. He drew a circle around it. "Ya see, this island floats 'round," He explained as he moved his finger around the circle he drew around the charm. "It's in different spots every day but it's alway facin' the sunset at the end of the day."

Donald and Ven looked at each other again before looking over at Sora.

"You think there's water over there? I mean, the spring here got ruined by those monsters." Donald said cautiously.

Ven nodded. "Should be, this area's tropical. At the very least, there should be a place where rain collects." He added quietly.

Goofy grinned. "And there's fruit! I saw a tree!" He commented proudly. "Should be a nice place to stay for a bit, and then we can get Leon some supplies. And Sora can rest up!"

Ven looked back at the sleeping form of Sora on the waves and something inside of him suddenly clicked.

Sora had gotten what he wanted, in some shape and form. He had gotten the judgment he wanted from being the sole survivor of his island home and he had gotten revenge on the monsters that had taken his loved ones away.

Really, who was he to judge why Sora did what he did?

"Alright, let's go!" Ven cried out as Donald removed their captain from the water. On his body, there was nothing but the white marks of an old scar and the faintest smile on his face.

_What's left of me now _  
_ My fears, my lies _  
_ Melt away..._


End file.
